


i won't show mercy on you now

by y0ustolemystar



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: M/M, My First Work in This Fandom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-10
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-03-22 02:45:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 40,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3711862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/y0ustolemystar/pseuds/y0ustolemystar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>First there was betrayal and then there was denial. Dean passed through that stage of loss pretty quickly; it’s pretty difficult to deny Seth’s betrayal when he still felt the ghost of the chair hitting his back still. Roman had watched him pace back and forth for hours in their shared hotel room trying to reason before he let his frustration out by smashing those stupid little white cups against the wall.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. can you feel my heart/gravity

First there was betrayal and then there was denial. Dean passed through that stage of loss pretty quickly; it’s pretty difficult to deny Seth’s betrayal when he still felt the ghost of the chair hitting his back still. Roman had watched him pace back and forth for hours in their shared hotel room trying to reason before he let his frustration out by smashing those stupid little white cups against the wall.

Anger set in and that was the stage Dean had been in for _months_ but he had a _right_ to be fucking angry.

[ ** _I'm scared to get close and I hate being alone_** ** _, I long for that feeling to not feel at all, The higher I get, the lower I'll sink, I can't drown my demons, they know how to swim_**.] Dean took his earphones out as he slipped his shoes off.

“You look tired,” Roman said as he exited the bathroom.

Dean turned his back on Roman as he stripped his sweat soaked vest top off “Trouble sleeping again,” he muttered “It’ll pass.” It always does. Dean and Roman never talked about why he had taken Seth’s betrayal so hard but Dean still isn’t ready to openly admit to himself _why_ it had affected him so much.

Roman walked to his side of the bedroom “If it doesn’t then we’re going to a doctor, I can’t have you passing out somewhere when I can’t get to you.” He said softly.

Dean nodded his head and offered a slight smile “Do you ever take a break from worrying?” he asked.

“Never,” Roman’s response was instant.

Dean smiled “Right I’m gonna take a shower before we hit the road,” he said as he grabbed his towel and shower necessities before locking himself in the bathroom and taking a deep breath. Running was cathartic to a certain extent but when he thought he was _past_ feeling angry he found a new surge of anger, it made him feel like he was stuck and there was no way out

* * *

 Dean couldn’t think of the last time he had felt _this_ relaxed. His eyes were closed with his music playing softly through his earphones as the sun warmed up his face. The car journey had put him to sleep for an hour or so. When he’d woken up Roman had suggested taking a detour to liven the journey up a little bit. Dean didn’t complain.

When he finally decided to open his eyes and was greeted with the sight of _nothing_ but a long stretch of empty road he turned to look at Roman who was slowing the vehicle down. Dean glanced at Roman for a moment before laughing “You didn’t bring me out here to kill me did you?”

“Not worth the jail time,” Roman replied with a grin.

Dean sat up straighter in his seat “So _why_ are we out here then?” he asked as he watched Roman cut the engine and undo his belt.

“We’re switching,” Roman stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. _Which it was but why were they switching_?

Dean slowly undid his belt still watching Roman questioningly.

“Look man the way I see it is we have a long empty stretch of road ahead of us,” Roman said as he swung the driver’s door open “I figured you could maybe channel some anger onto the gas pedal.” He added before getting out the car. Dean nodded to himself as he swung open the passenger door and got out the car. The short walk to the driver’s door was nice; it allowed him to move his legs properly even if only for a couple of seconds. 

[ ** _Cause I'm the only one to get you_** ** _, the only one to figure you out, You're a place I can go to, A face I couldn't live without, And nobody sees what we do, Don't need anybody else around, It don't matter what they told us, Gravity won't hold us down_**.] 

A curb-stomp to the head through cinder blocks, _someone Seth never cared about_ , spiteful words and the _constant_ running away from Dean as well as always running _into_ obstacles that come in the form of Kane and J &J security. All of this was running through his mind as his foot steadily increased pressure on the gas pedal. He had barely registered the music playing from the radio as he watched the stretch of road quickly be eaten up by the rear view mirror. 

* * *

 “Well we got here in one piece… that’s something I guess.” Roman said as he closed the hotel room door. Roman had insisted that they share hotel rooms from now on so they both wouldn’t be tempted to do something they’d regret, like get blind drunk and try to knock down every hotel room door in case it happens to be Seth’s room and give him hell. Like, it happened once and Dean was over it. The hangover had _not_ been worth it.

Dean placed his bag at the end of the bed before slipping his shoes off “I can’t say the same for Bray tomorrow,” he muttered darkly. Bray Wyatt was going to fucking _regret_ ever crossing him while he was stuck feeling this angry at everything.

Roman glanced at him with something close to worry etched on his features “You need me tomorrow and I’ll be there,” he said.

“I can handle Wyatt,” Dean said “He’s going to wish you _were_ there.”

Roman shook his head lightly “I’m not going to ask you to promise anything… just don’t go crazy, when it comes to him you seem to throw all caution about your safety to the wind.” He said.

Dean grinned at his best friend “Haven’t you heard I’m not crazy. I’m _unstable_.” He said. Seriously though, why Bray couldn’t just accept Dean had moved past his stupid mind games is beyond him. 

Roman rolled his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs used are Can You Feel My Heart - Bring Me The Horizon & Gravity - DJ Fresh & Ella Eyre. (I kind of have an iTunes playlist for this story to inspire me). The timeline in this is kind of jumbled, I'm having to go over everything again.


	2. light 'em up/undead/ten feet tall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was obvious he was channelling his emotional pain into physical pain for Seth but he was going out of his way to ensure he had Seth’s attention. Dean turned his back on Seth and turned his music up some more.

Dean bounced lightly on his feet, the music from his headphones proving to be a good distraction from everything going on around him. From the corner of his eye he could see Seth and his security lingering just round the corner, any other time it would bother him but he was focused on getting himself ready for his match against Wyatt. The music was such a good distraction that when he felt a hand on his shoulder he almost punched Roman in the face due to being so startled.

[ ** _A constellation of tears on your lashes_** ** _, Burn everything you love, then burn the ashes, in the end everything collides, my childhood spat back out the monster that you see, my songs know what you did in the dark_**.]

“Good luck,” Roman said after Dean removed an earbud.

Dean smiled at his best friend “You fancy a beer after we’re finished here?” he asked.

Roman nodded his head before shrugging lightly “Sure,” he said.

“See ya later,” Dean said.

Just as he was about to put his earbud back in Roman said “Just remember Wyatt isn’t worth a night in the hospital,”

Dean laughed “As if _I_ am likely to stay there even if that’s how the night is to end,”

“I’ll make sure you do, you can’t keep making a habit out of checking yourself out.” Roman said sternly before slapping him on the back and walking off leaving Dean to gather himself.

Dean put his earbud back in and looked up from his phone to lock gazes with none other than Seth Rollins and the realisation struck Dean right there and then that it stunned him for a couple of moments. It was obvious he was channelling _his_ emotional pain into _physical pain_ for Seth but he was going out of his way to _ensure_ _he had Seth’s attention_. Dean turned his back on Seth and turned his music up some more.

He wanted Seth to hurt as much as he did, that much was obvious. Perhaps a new tactic wouldn’t hurt. 

* * *

[ ** _What, you can't see the sarcasm in the verses I spit?_** ** _What, you think I just got lucky, didn't work for this shit? Bitch, I've been working at this ever since I was a kid, I played a million empty shows to only family and friends_**.]

one.. two.. three..

Dean closed his eyes savouring the win for a brief moment before he opened his eyes and grinned down at Wyatt who was still on the floor. It served him right for _underestimating_ Dean. He crouched down by Bray’s head. “I destroyed _you_ Wyatt and I’m going to _destroy_ Harper too,” Dean shouted at Bray before pulling him up and using the last ounce of energy he could muster he used his signature dirty deeds… just to hammer the message home. Dean rolled out the ring and turned to look at Bray still sprawled out; he let out a laugh at the sight. 

As soon as he got backstage Roman was there throwing an arm around his shoulder and shaking him lightly with a grin on his face “I gotta say you really gave it to him,” Roman said.

“It's a loud and clear message to Harper, back off or be destroyed.” Dean said still feeling hyped up from the match and the win over Wyatt. 

“How about we bail and grab that beer?” Roman suggested as they walked down a hallway. Dean could have sworn he’d seen a flash of half blonde hair and a bit of the gold money in the bank briefcase out the corner of his eye causing him to almost mishear Romans suggestion.

Dean nodded his head “Probably a wise idea,” he said.

* * *

Dean let out a sigh as he knocked back his third shot “I really needed this,” he said.

Roman smiled at him as he nodded his head in a silent agreement before he said “Well now you’ve had something to drink… I think it’s time we have a chat about something that we’ve been avoiding.” causing Dean to almost choke on the air he was breathing.

“Uh I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dean said suddenly feeling very interested in the wooden bar top.

“Seth,” Roman said simply.

Dean looked up at his best friend with a frown on his face. _Yeah… **what** about Seth though_ , Dean thought to himself because there was plenty of directions this ‘chat’ could go. “What about him?” he asked.

Roman signalled for the bartender to get them another round before he turned to face Dean completely with a serious expression on his face “Since becoming champion and the whole Brock Lesnar thing I’m betting he will have added security so I just wanted to know if you were still going after him,” he said.

Dean shook his head slightly feeling relieved he wasn’t about to have a conversation he wasn’t ready to even think about yet. Their shots were placed besides them as Dean said “Seth is a scumbag and he isn’t worth the attention right now,”

Roman nodded his head “Good to know,” he said “Just know _I_ have your back _no matter what_.”

“And I have your back, you’re my brother.” Dean said.

The bartender, Eli, came over to them with a slight frown on his face as he asked “No Seth tonight?”

“You been living under a rock?” Roman asked with a scowl. Roman, Dean and Seth had visited this pub a lot back when they were a team.

“Dammit Eli, now we have to go find a _different_ drinking establishment that hasn’t been contaminated with that scumbags presence.” Dean said as he stood up from his seat ready to leave.

Eli looked genuinely confused “Are you guys messing with me?” he asked. 

[ ** _I'll put up a sign in the clouds_** ** _, So they all know that we ain't ever coming down, Been trying so hard not to let it show, But you got me feeling like, I'm stepping on buildings, cars and boats, I swear I could touch the sky_**.]

Dean didn’t know what time they stumbled back into the hotel room after deciding to forget about Luke Harper, Seth Rollins and Big Show for the night. After Dean finally let thoughts of Seth drown in who knows how many shots he had downed but from what he can sort of remember as he falls back on his bed is that it was a good night.

“Don’t feel so good,” Roman muttered from his bed.

“Go to sleep,” Dean mumbled into his pillow as his eyes slid shut and he was out like a light. 

* * *

 Seth just _could not sleep_ and it was starting to _drive him insane_. Seriously! All he wanted to do was _sleep_ ; it really isn’t difficult to do! However it was proving to be a challenge at… 4:22am. Dammit. Seth grabbed his phone off of the bedside table and scrolled through twitter, it was a ridiculous thing to do especially when all he wanted was to sleep.

A retweet caught his eye.

_@thedeanambrose_   **thought you’d like a reminder of what you did after one too many shots ;)**  
Retweeted by both Dean _and_ Roman.

Seth clicked on the tweet to see the media attached and watched the video take over the screen on his phone. The video quality was actually quite decent and what he immediately registers is Dean. Dean is dancing. On a bar. Over the loud music Seth can just make out chants of “Ambrose is awesome!” Seth wondered just how many shots Dean had actually drank and how many Roman had drank.

A sober Roman would _not_ have let a drunken Dean get up on a bar and dance.

The video ends with Dean downing _another_ shot. Seth could only imagine how he was going to feel in the morning.

He replays the video once then twice and on the third time he paused it when Dean looked at the camera and smiling like he hadn’t been stabbed in the back by one of his closest friends. 

His mind took him back to earlier that night when Dean had looked _right at him_ and then just turned his back on him like Seth was _nothing_ to him. Maybe Seth deserved that. Maybe Dean was moving on.

Seth didn’t like that thought.


	3. cool kids/hotel ceiling

“You look like you’re having about as much fun as I am,” Dean said to Paige as he sat at the bar beside her and motioned at the bartender for another drink.

Paige looked up from the drink she had been staring at “I didn’t think this would be your sort of thing,” she said.

Dean barely acknowledged the bartender when he set Dean’s drink in front of him. He looked round the room at his co-workers, some were dancing and some were sat at tables conversing and some were seated at the bar nursing drinks. He looked at Paige before he shrugged lightly as he said “Free drinks from Hunter… how could I say no?”

“I hear they're making an appearance later on,” Paige said as she tilted her head to the side slightly “Are we to expect some fireworks between you and a certain champ?” she asked a smile playing on her lips.

“And ruin AJ’s night,” Dean said as he briefly thought about his bright new idea to _ignore_ Seth completely “Highly doubt it.” He added before downing his drink. The song changed to one Dean had heard on the radio recently and had decided it was a pretty decent one. There was also a video of him drunkenly dancing on a bar to it from last night.

“Come on,” Dean said as he got off his seat “It’d look pretty sad if I hit the dance floor by myself.” He added when Paige frowned at him.

She had a grin on her face as she left her seat and followed him to the dance floor “And here I was hoping that you’d give us a repeat performance from last night,” she said.

“Who knows maybe after a few more shots there could be a repeat performance,” Dean said as he and Paige melted into the middle of the floor between their co-workers and started dancing.

[ ** _He sees them talking with a big smile, but they haven't got a clue_** ** _, Yeah, they're living the good life, can't see what he is going through, They're driving fast cars, but they don't know where they're going, In the fast lane, living life without knowing, And he says_**.]

“No Roman tonight?” Paige asked over the music.

Dean twirled her before he replied “Nah, he’s around somewhere.” 

* * *

“I seriously cannot think of anything more _boring_ ,” Seth muttered as he stood in the elevator with Hunter and Stephanie as they rode down to the ground floor where the hotel had a bar which Hunter had rented out for the night to host AJ’s leaving party.

Hunter rolled his shoulders before he replied “Got to keep up appearances,”

He followed behind Hunter and Stephanie into the bar and wondered where Kane was and how he’d managed to wiggle his way out of attending. Upon entering the bar Seth decided he needed a drink. The bar wasn’t particularly busy and was currently Dean and Roman free. Seth ordered a drink and took a seat at the far end of the bar where he could see everyone. He thanked the bartender when his drink was placed in front of him and he looked round the room. His gaze landed on something that made him freeze in his seat. 

Dean had just spun Paige and they were both _smiling_ , Dean looked like he was close to even _laughing_. He couldn’t seem to look away as he carried on watching Dean and Paige slow dance to the current song playing. _How was this a_ thing? When had this even _become a thing_? Seth couldn’t even remember Dean ever showing _any_ interest in Paige in the past.

[ ** _I've been staring at the hotel ceiling. Drinking everything I've found this evening._** ** _Tryin' to hold on to this sweetest feeling. So I'll never let you go, don't you leave me lonely. Start to see this, everyone I know cannot believe this. I'm tryna hold onto this sweetest feeling. So I'll never let you go, don't you leave me lonely now._** ]

He watched as Paige leaned up closely and whispered something in Dean’s ear causing him to raise his eyebrow at her and smile. Seth didn’t want to even consider what she’d said.

“Don’t even think about it,” a voice said from beside him.

Seth looked at Roman who was scowling at him. So much for a Roman free zone. Seth turned his gaze to his drink “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

“You broke his heart,” Roman said as if Seth didn’t already know that “Dean would never admit it but you have some fucking nerve _looking_ at him like that after _everything_ that’s happened.” He added in a calm tone which put Seth on the edge of his seat.

Seth glanced up from his drink “I really have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said softly.

“Cut the crap, I’m not blind. I was _never_ blind when it came to your feelings for him. I wasn’t an idiot Rollins; I knew you two had _something_ going on. I never brought it up because I figured when you were both ready, you’d talk to me.” Roman said with a scowl on his face. 

Seth opened his mouth only to close it again, he was lost for words.

“I bet you didn’t know Dean hasn’t had a proper night’s sleep since you _‘bought in’_ or whatever you fucking call it. You don’t deserve someone as caring as Dean, _you never did_. You've made your bed now lie in it.” Roman continued his voice cold and the look he’d given Seth before he turned his back on him suggested he was nothing but unwanted dirt on the bottom of his shoe. 

Seth nodded his head before he downed his drink; tonight was just turning out to be _fantastic_. 

He hadn’t even wanted to be here. 

* * *

“Okay seriously though… _what is his problem_?” Paige asked once they had finally sat down at a table that wasn’t occupied by others.

Dean shrugged “He isn’t the social gatherings kind of guy,” he said, the words just spilling from his mouth as if it was natural to discuss Seth’s likes and dislikes. It caught him off guard at how easy it had been.

Paige looked at him for a moment before placing her hand under her chin as she leaned forward in her chair slightly “I didn’t put you down as the social gathering kind of guy yet here you are,” she said.

“Here I am,” Dean agreed as he nodded his head.

 “I think it’s _more_ than him not being a social gatherings kind of guy, if I’m honest I think it has something to do with _you_. _I_ think he’s a Dean Ambrose kind of guy… he’s been staring daggers at me ever since he got here.” Paige said with a smile.

Dean leaned forward in his chair slightly as well, his lips tugging upwards “ _I_ think you’ve been avoiding AJ ever since I found you… why is that?” he asked hoping Paige would take the hint to just drop the subject.

Paige nodded her head for a moment “I get it… you don’t want to talk about it. AJ’s my best friend and this just seems too… _final_. Maybe I’m not ready to say goodbye yet.” She said softly.

Dean was about to suggest they go get another drink when Roman inserted himself in the seat between him and Paige and said “So this is where you’ve been hiding,”

“This one knows how to dance,” Dean said as he nodded towards Paige.

Paige chuckled before she said “I was luring him into a false sense of security so I could get him on that bar for a repeat of last night,”

Roman smiled as he nodded his head “Oh he doesn’t need alcohol for that… you could have just asked.” He said.

Paige looked stunned as she asked “Seriously?”

Dean nodded with a smirk “Seriously,” he stated. 

* * *

 “Not a bad turn out in the end,” Hunter commented as he seated himself at the bar beside Seth.

Seth had gone around the room and made some small talk, mostly with the guys he was ninety nine percent sure didn’t absolutely hate him. In the end he had ended up back at the bar sitting and watching the party unfold. Seth found himself longing for when he could close his hotel room door and sink into his bed. Oh it was going to be bliss. Seth shrugged lightly as he scanned the room once more “I guess not,” he agreed.

“I saw Reigns and Ambrose,” Hunter said “They been bothering you?” he asked.

Seth looked down at his empty glass for a moment “No,” he said.

“What’s up with you then,” Hunter said. Seth resisted the urge to roll his eyes because he had made it _perfectly clear_ he had not wanted to be here _yet here he was_ when other people were able to completely skip.

“Gatherings… they’re not really my thing,” Seth said with a light shrug and a quick look around the room. _No he wasn’t looking for Dean_. Or that’s what he was telling himself at least anyway. 

* * *

 

Dean was _actually_ enjoying himself believe it or not and he wasn’t drunk, yet. Paige, him and Roman were on the dance floor once more.

“You know you guys aren’t as scary as you let on,” Paige said to them over the music.

Dean opened his mouth to say something when Roman beat him to the reply as he said “Don’t say that too loud; don’t need the likes of Ziggler getting too big for his boots now.”

“I need a drink, you two want anything?” Dean asked.

He was met with two “Nah’s,” before he pushed his way through his co-workers and out of the sudden build on the dancefloor. When he broke free of the big crowd that had gathered he felt like he could breathe a bit easier. At the bar he could see Seth sat at one of the stools nursing a drink. Dean let out a sigh; _Seth really wasn’t making this easy_. The sudden urge to knock him off his chair had to be swallowed back down because _no_ , Dean was going to _show_ Seth how it _felt_ to be left behind without a second doubt. 

“Can I help you?” The bartender asked causing Dean to snap back to reality.

Dean bit his lip “Changed my mind,” he said as he headed out of the bar and towards the elevator, he decided to call it a night. He knew he should have told Roman before leaving but he can always shoot him a quick text when he gets back to their room. When the elevator doors closed, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He did actually feel quite tired.

What was bugging him though was how detached Seth had looked. Dean knew Seth didn’t like social gatherings so he wouldn’t have been there willingly but _fucking dammit_ he was actually _feeling sorry_ for that asshole. No. Maybe that was why Dean had left… because he wasn’t bound to stay until he was told he could leave. No. He wasn’t The Authority’s puppet. Seth was.

Maybe he left because he wanted to show Seth exactly that, _Dean was no one’s puppet_. 


	4. ten tonne skeleton

“I didn’t realise talking to you automatically meant I was _stuck_ with you,” Dean said without looking at Paige as he continued to walk through the parking lot to get to the locker room.

“Dude-”Paige had started to say when Dean felt strong hands grab at his jacket and then thrust him forward so he fell into the side of a car pretty hard. Before he could even begin to think about standing up, he was being pulled upwards. He opened his eyes to see Luke Harper in front of him before Harper started punching him. Dean put his hands up in order to block some punches before he was being grabbed and thrown into the side of the car again. Dean brought his hand up to touch the side of his head for a moment.

 _Whack_. _Whack. Whack._

“Arh!” Dean heard Luke Harper say. Dean got to his feet while Harper’s attention wasn’t on him.

“How do you like getting hit from behind?” Dean heard Paige scream before he heard another _Whack_ and Paige screaming “Coward.”

Dean grabbed Harpers (pretty disgusting) vest and turned him so he was facing him before kicking him, Harper bent down momentarily but it provided Dean with the perfect opportunity. Dean grabbed his head and performed dirty deeds.

[ ** _Cut loose like an animal_** ** _, fired out like a cannon ball, but I waited too long, Yeah, I waited too long, got me high from a holy vein_**.]

As Luke Harper laid on the floor face down, Dean looked over to Paige who was holding a metal bar “You have some guts,” Dean panted before looking back down at Harper. He could feel his anger flaring up at the man ambushing him from behind. Dean gave him a rough kick to the ribs before motioning for Paige to follow him.

“Wait… what was it you were complaining about earlier?” Paige asked with a grin on her face.

“Yeah, yeah… you can stay for now,” Dean said. 

* * *

 Dean could take a beating and that’s exactly what he did. When his opponent’s music hit at the end of the match he accepted that he had lost this time, he hadn’t exactly been at the top of his game and that was all down to _Luke Harper_. Dean was going to kill to him and he was going to make Bray Wyatt and Eric Rowan _watch_ as he decimated Harper. Yeah, that’s what he was going to do.

Dean rolled out the ring with a million ways to hurt that fucking asshole running through his mind when he was aware of Paige waiting half way up the ramp. When he was near her, she walked over and wrapped an arm around his back as they walked up the ramp together.

“People are going to think this is a thing,” Dean said.

Paige shrugged “Who cares what people think,” she said. 

Dean was silent until they made it to his space that he shared with Roman “Why are you doing this? What do you _get_ out of all of _this_?” he asked as he gestured wildly. 

Paige took a step back looking mildly surprised before she said “Alright asshole I understand you have fucking _trust issues_ but that doesn’t give you a free pass to be a dick. All you’ve done is bitch, moan and question me about _my motives_ , like, god forbid I _may actually like hanging out with you_.” Paige’s voice started getting louder in volume until she was shouting in Deans face. 

Dean looked at her for a moment, she looked pretty pissed off, he nodded his head lightly “Okay but to be fair-” he started to say when he got cut off. 

“I’m not Rollins for fuck sake,” Paige said interrupting him “ _Everybody_ knows that since what he did you only really trust Roman, every time someone’s _tried_ to make a connection with you, you fucking act like a dick.” 

Dean bit the inside of his cheek; he thought if he interrupted her then she may actually explode. After what she did tonight he could understand how Dean’s mistrust of their sudden… friendship(?) could come across as him being an asshole. He held his hands up in surrendering motion as he said “Okay…I just, it’s hard… I…” before shaking his head in frustration.

Paige’s expression softened only slightly “I understand,” she said “just… don’t be a dick about it.” 

Dean nodded his head “You know if you were a guy you’d be on the floor by now after that remark about Rollins,” he said.

Paige smiled “Shut up,” 

* * *

 Seth sat as he took in the events of tonight plus the information his security team had just managed to discover. Dean had lost his match; to be honest he hadn’t looked one hundred percent when he came out for his match. _Paige_ had met Dean after losing his match and walked with him. So it looked like Dean was keeping Paige around…

_“Harper assaulted Dean from behind when he was in the parking lot,”_

Seth stood up and paced his locker room with a plan trying to form in his mind. Dean was surely going to retaliate but _when_ was he going to get his revenge? _How_ was he going to retaliate? Seth didn’t want to mess any plan he was already concocting. But Seth would be damned if he didn’t _send a message_ to Harper himself. 

* * *

 Dean opened the picture message that he’d just received from Paige, the picture was of a selfie she’d taken not thirty seconds ago, with her tongue out while Roman was pulling a silly face and Dean was sticking his tongue out at the camera as well. All three of them were sat closely to each other on the big hotel bed.

“Now you’ve got to like it,” Paige said after she’d uploaded it to Instagram.

“Why?” Dean asked.

“Because you have to,” Paige said before nudging Roman lightly with her elbow “That goes for you too big guy.” She added.

Dean shook his head lightly “I don’t even use my Instagram unless I need to,” he said. 

Paige held out her hand and Dean eyed it for a moment not understanding what was going on when she made a grab for his phone. “Does a _like_ seriously mean that much to you?” Dean asked and he looked up to see Roman chuckling to himself. “ _Fine_ ,” Dean sighed as he unlocked his phone and opened the app. The first picture that greeted him was the one Paige had sent him in a message. He liked the photo when his phone was taken right out of his hands “ _Hey_.” He protested, grabbing it back to see Paige had uploaded the exact same picture to his profile.

“Dude, don’t look at me, I didn’t invite her to be our new ‘friend’.” Roman said when Dean looked up to Roman for _some_ support.

Dean narrowed his eyes at his brother for a moment before he said “Well she won’t be for long,” he said. That earned him a hard nudge in the side from one of her elbows. 

“Whatever,” Paige said “May I remind you of what happened earlier?” she asked with raised eyebrow.

Roman sat up straighter “About that… you shouldn’t have gone after Harper like that. What if he’d hurt you?” he said seriously.

Dean nodded his head in agreement “I don’t want you getting hurt just because of me, I can handle myself.” He said. 

Paige smiled at him softly “I wasn’t just going to stand there and watch him hurt you, that piece of shit had a good beating coming.” She said. 

Dean looked down at the quilt as he remembered a time when he didn’t feel the need to constantly watch his back because _he knew_ Roman or Seth would always be there in case he needed them. Roman hadn’t been there due to a match against Big Show. _Seth hadn’t been there because he didn’t have Dean’s back anymore, **Seth never cared anyway**_. That thought alone was enough to make his content mood plummet. 

For fucks sake!

Dean wasn’t one to make emotional bonds easily; _so why_ was he so hung up on Seth’s emotional unavailability. Dean knew though and he felt like a complete and utter idiot for falling for every word that had left Seth’s mouth. Now look where he was. No matter how much he _hated_ Seth… he uh, he couldn’t stop having these feelings for Seth. He had always thought he admired Seth as a person and as a _friend_ but the truth was that _Dean had fallen hard_ for Seth. 

“Hey Dean?” Roman’s voice pulled him out of these thoughts.

Dean’s head snapped up to look at his best friend “What?” he asked.

“You were a million miles away,” Paige said softly.

Dean looked at her and back to Roman, had he said something aloud that he hadn’t meant? Surely not. 

* * *

 Seth was finally back in his hotel room with a plan of action in mind. He figured if Dean didn’t get his revenge by a certain time then he would carry out his plan. He checked his e-mails and messages before opening Instagram. He scrolled and scrolled before he came across a picture of Roman, Dean and _Paige_. Was she everywhere Dean was now? 

Roman looked like he was happy, he hadn’t seen many pictures of Roman happy since he hit him in the back with that steel chair. The same went of Dean really except he saw a snippet of a happy Dean back at AJ’s leaving party and it plagued his dreams. Paige was the reason he had been happy in those moments and _Seth had been the reason Dean had been miserable and angry for the past months_. Dean was leaving Seth behind without a second look. 


	5. beside you pt1

[ ** _When we both wake up underneath the same sun, Time stops, I wish that I could rewind, So close but so far away, She sleeps alone, My heart wants to come home, I wish I was, I wish I was beside you, She lies awake, I'm trying to find the words to say, I wish I was, I wish I was beside you_**.]

The first thing he was aware of was someone was lying beside him; Seth pulled the covers around himself tighter to maintain the warmth as he opened his eyes to the barely sunlit room. He felt like the breath had been knocked out of his lungs when he registered the person lying beside him was Dean. They were both laying face to face, Dean still currently sleeping and snoring softly. He looked peaceful. Seth could hardly believe it. He almost jumped out of his skin as Dean murmured “I’ve told you it’s fucking creepy when you watch me sleep,”

“Is this real?” Seth asked softly, his hand coming up to ghost over Dean’s lips causing the man to open his eyes.

Dean frowned at him for a moment “Why wouldn’t it be?” he asked as he snuggled closer.

Seth sighed “It could be a dream,” 

Dean eyed him for a moment before asking “Are you trying to be romantic or something?”

“No, I was just… I don’t know. I miss you.” Seth said not caring how Dean ended up here but _Dean was here and he wasn’t trying to punch his face in_.

Dean pulled a face at his words “Go back to sleep, freak.” He said before closing his eyes.

“Whatever,” Seth muttered as he closed his eyes as well.

Seth threw a hand over to the other side of the bed only for it to be met with nothing but bed sheet; he opened his eyes and sat up in bed. He ran a hand over his face as he exhaled. _It had been a dream_. It had felt so realistic, like Dean was really there.

“Fuck,” Seth muttered.

* * *

Roman looked up from his phone to see Paige sitting opposite him and staring at him with an unreadable expression on her face. Roman frowned at her before he said “You know it’s creepy when you do that right,”

Paige tilted her head to the side slightly before leaning over the table a bit “Right. Between you and me big guy, what’s the deal with Dean and Rollins?” she asked.

Roman shook his head immediately “When Dean wants you to know then you’ll know,” He said. It was true that when Dean wanted you to know then he would make you aware but Roman wasn’t about to betray his brother’s trust. Also Roman wasn’t fully filled in on what the deal had been between Dean and Seth but Roman has a vague idea.  

“Look dude, the way I see it is there is some real tension between them. You know… I’ve _always_ wondered why Dean reacted the way he did and then you… you seemed to not be as bothered.” Paige said slowly.

Roman stood up so he was looking down at her “You’re crossing a line that you do not want to cross with me and Dean,” he said before picking his water bottle off of the table and heading out of the canteen. He got halfway down the hallway before it hit him that he’d left his phone on the table and damn he’d thought his exit had seemed pretty good, he wasn’t about to go back and ruin the moment. He could always grab his phone off her later. 

* * *

 Dean looked up to see Ziggler standing in front of him staring at him, Dean frowned as he held back the urge to stand up and push the blonde into the wall and walk off. “What?” He asked.

Ziggler made a face before scratching the back of his head “Look man, it’s no big deal but a couple of the guys wanted to know if you and Reigns wanted to come out for a drink tonight.” He said.

Dean opened his mouth to tell him to fuck off before asking why he would assume him and Roman would even be up for that when Paige’s words entered his head _“_ _every time someone’s _tried_  to make a connection with you, you fucking act like a dick”_. Dean rubbed his hand along his shoulder for a moment conflicted before the question “Are you trying to make a connection with me?” slipped out of his mouth. He couldn’t take that back.

Dolph opened his mouth a few times and then closed it before nodding his head “A connection wouldn’t be too awful would it,” he said sounding unsure.

Dean stood up abruptly and he saw it startled Dolph before he poked his finger into his chest hard as he said “Are you taking the piss?” before jabbing his finger into the blondes chest again “Don’t treat me like a fucking child.”

“Dude it’s just a drink, come if you want and if you don’t want to then don’t go.” Dolph Ziggler said.

Dean nodded his head “I’ll speak to Reigns,” he said before motioning for Ziggler to scurry away which he did. Quickly.

Dean’s phone chimed in his pocket and when he dug it out he saw it was a text from Roman himself.  
**Roman** [meet me near the main exit in 45 mins]. Speak of the devil. Dean made a mental note to tell Roman about the drinks thing tonight when he met him later. 

* * *

If anyone noticed the scowls being sent towards Luke Harper whenever Seth had the misfortune of crossing paths with him backstage then they didn’t say anything. Which suited Seth just fine; he was having a lot to deal with. First Randy and now Kane _humiliating_ him in front of everyone. He swore Daniel Bryan had smirked as he had passed by Seth earlier. Seth was mid-rant in his mind when his phone went off. When he picked it out his pocket he almost dropped it.

**Roman** [It’s Dean. Meet me main exit – 50 mins. Need to talk to you.]

What?

Why was Dean _getting in touch_ now? Seth’s grip tightened on his phone when he realised Dean was probably going to rub it in Seth’s face that Kane’s words were true, but why would he do that where no one would be there to see it? 

Dean wasn’t like that, when he wanted to hurt Seth physically and emotionally he chose to do it where everyone could see it. Seth suddenly had so many questions that it was quickly becoming impossible to even consider not showing up. 

* * *

 

“Dammit,” Roman muttered to himself as he looked in the locker room to find Dean was actually not there. Where on earth was he!? Roman had tried everywhere Dean normally hung around.

“Hey… big guy… we cool?” Paige asked as she walked up to him slowly.

Roman looked at her before shrugging his shoulders “Dean’s a sensitive subject, if you want to know something about him then you’re better off asking him straight up to get a straight answer.” He said.

Paige nodded her head “I didn’t mean to cause… whatever it was that I caused between us. I… it’s silly, I barely know him but _I care about him too_ you know?” she said.

Roman smiled softly as he nodded his head “He doesn’t realise he has that affect,” he said vaguely remembering how quickly he felt protective of the man who came to be his brother. 

* * *

 

“Hey where’s Roman?” Dean asked confused as he approached the deserted exit to find only Paige standing there and no Roman in sight.

Paige shrugged “Dunno, he’s not text to say where he is yet.” She said before taking one hand from behind her back to show a pair of handcuffs dangling from her fingers.

Dean eyed them for a moment “What you need those for?” he asked.

“You look like the kind of guy who knows how to get out of a pair of these, _show me_.” Paige said with a smirk.

Dean frowned at her “Now isn’t the time,” he said.

“Sure it is, we have time to kill before Roman gets here.” Paige said.

Dean shrugged his shoulders, she did have a point. Kind of. He offered his wrist and her smirk grew slightly as she enclosed one cuff around his wrist. Suddenly this didn’t seem like a good idea.

“What are you doing here?” a certain voice made Dean freeze.

He turned to face Seth as he scowled at him “What are _you_ doing here?” he shot back, momentarily forgetting about the cuff attached to his wrist when he heard the sound of the other cuff closing. Around Seth’s wrist. What…

“What the actual fuck? _You want me to go away for murder_?” Dean asked his voice rising with every word until he tried to take a step forward and couldn’t move much further because _dammit Seth wasn’t moving with him_. 

“Hear me out,” Paige said as she took a couple steps back.

“I _can’t_ stand to be around him any more than I have to be,” Seth said as he yanked hard on the cuffs causing Dean to almost lose his balance.

Dean turned round to get close to Seth “Yeah well the feelings mutual, if she doesn’t take these cuffs off then I’ll _fucking rip_ your arm off.” He said. Paige was then pushing them apart, not that it particularly worked because _hello_ they were cuffed to each other.

“Shut the fuck up, the both of you! _I swear to_ … uh!! You two…” Paige said before she pointed at Seth and then at Dean “You two have some unfinished business, I can tell. You two aren’t subtle either. Especially you Rollins, not that you have a _fucking right_. I’ve hidden the key so until I feel you two have properly sorted this out then you’re stuck like this.”

Dean frowned at the dark haired girl “You _literally_ just contradicted yourself. I could get out of this cuff right now.” He said.

“And risk the injury?” She asked as she tilted her head to the side slightly “That would postpone your revenge plans on Harper now wouldn’t it. I’m literally asking a maximum of twenty four hours. Is that too much to ask?” she asked.

“Yes!” Seth exclaimed at the same time Dean said “ _Twenty four hours_?”

“Later boys,” Paige said before walking away. Her pace quicker than usual. Good, Dean thought, she should be afraid.

“I’m going to kill him,” Dean called out after her “Then you’re next!”

Seth was looking around the deserted exit “We should leave before anyone sees us,” he said.

Dean looked at the man he was cuffed to “I’m not going anywhere with you,” he said sounding mildly childlike. 

Seth shook their cuffed hands as he said “You actually don’t have a choice,”

Dean looked down at their cuffed hands before walking toward the exit causing Seth to stumble behind him momentarily, the fact he’d made Seth mutter and curse cheered him up a little bit. His damn plan hadn’t lasted him all that long and that was all down to Paige. But he could still ignore Seth while cuffed to him, there was an endless of stuff he could think of that would make it easy. 

Like Seth gloating gleefully about Wyatt beating him, like Seth almost ending his career, like Seth preferring to use verbal violence… oh yeah, he’d have enough material to bury himself in to _not acknowledge Seth_. Dean was literally handcuffed to his weakness. It was easy to hate Seth from afar when he was being an ass but personally Dean knew Seth was never that kind of guy, no matter what words fell from that mouth of his.

Dean wasn’t fully one hundred percent sure he was going to manage being cuffed to Seth when he was so close and yet he was still _so far away_. 


	6. beside you pt 2

Seth was having trouble driving with a cuffed hand despite the fact that Dean was _co-operating_ with his instructions whilst driving which Seth thought of as a progress unless Dean was biding his time to wrap them around a tree. Dean had been silent since his outburst back at the arena and it was starting to bother Seth.

It wasn’t until they were almost at the hotel that Dean spoke and even then it wasn’t directed at Seth. His phone went off signalling he was being called.

“Hey Rome,” Dean said through a sigh.

Seth couldn’t hear what Roman was saying on the other end of the line.

“I’m shattered so I thought I’d leave early, I know how you worry so I’ve got myself a room at a quiet hotel and I’m going to go to sleep okay.” Dean said, whether the bit about being shattered was true or not, Seth didn’t know.

Roman must have said something that didn’t sit right with Dean because Dean was suddenly scowling at the stretch of road ahead of them before he said “I agreed to see a doctor _if_ it became a problem again,”

This time Seth frowned. He had never known Dean to have trouble sleeping. Ever. So when had this become a problem? Then Roman’s words from AJ’s leaving do hit him “ _I bet you didn’t know Dean hasn’t had a proper night’s sleep since you _‘bought in’_  or whatever you fucking call it._”

Dean was shoving his phone back into his pocket awkwardly and returned to his silent state as they pulled into the small hotels parking lot. Seth didn’t want to be seen like this, what would the other superstars say? What if The Authority heard of this?

Seth cut the engine and unbuckled his seat belt.

“I didn’t know you had sleeping problems,” the words fall from his lips without him thinking about it.

Dean just unbuckled his belt and opened the passenger door. Right, so Seth was going to have to climb across the seats.

Eventually they manage to get out the car injury free and check in at the hotel. To say they got a few looks was probably an understatement but as soon as the hotel room door closed behind them, Seth didn’t know whether he should feel relieved or worried.

* * *

 The one thing that bugs Seth is how quiet and compliant Dean is being. Since there hadn’t been much communicating done, Seth had suggested they both just call it a night. Dean hadn’t agreed nor disagreed. Which is how Seth had ended up sharing a bed with Dean, not exactly under the circumstances he had once dreamed of but still this was better than nothing.

“I think I preferred it when you were bitching and moaning,” Seth said hoping for a reaction of any sort, the silence was deafening.

Dean didn’t even move which lead Seth to believe he was either continuing to ignore Seth’s very existence or he was asleep.

“I mean… I don’t even know what it _is_ that I did to get this from you. I don’t _deserve_ any of this.” Seth carried on this time laying on the arrogance in order to provoke something, anything.

Silence.

Seth wanted to scream.

“I hope Orton turns you inside out,” Dean muttered.

Seth wanted to cry. Finally.

“You see that’s what I’m talking about, what did I ever do that was so bad to you?” He asked. Seth wasn’t a fucking idiot. _He fucking knew what he had done_. He’d broken Dean’s heart before Dean even realised Seth was capable of shattering it the way he did.

Again, Dean didn’t respond for some time and it had Seth on edge. Maybe being an asshole wasn’t going to work.

“What did you mean when you were on the phone to Roman about your sleeping?” Seth asked softly while squashing the urge to trace the scar on Deans back like he used to do when they were ‘brothers’ in The Shield.

“Here was me thinking you were some fucking genius,” Dean mumbled, his words dripping with sarcasm. Seth almost didn’t catch his words.

“I just… I’ve never known you to have problems sleeping,” Seth said.

“Well we haven’t exactly been _close_ recently,” Dean said “So what makes you think you have a fucking right to know _my_ business?”

Seth opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by Dean’s words.

“After putting a chair to my back? Curb stomping me through cinderblocks? Hiding behind those fucking munchkins you call security? _Sucking_ up to Triple H? Whining and moaning like a little bitch every time you underestimate someone? Your fucking interferences?” Dean said as his voice remained steady “You really think that you’re _it_ , don’t you? I think it’s a disgrace that you think you’re the future of the WWE, I mean… what does it say about the company when the future of the company is literally handed everything and has earned _nothing_. I’d be embarrassed. Actually, _I’m_ embarrassed to even be a part of a company that sings your praises and compliments your talent when all you’re talented at is throwing your weight around like a little corporate bitch boy.” Dean added only stopping for a few breaths during his entire rant.

Seth didn’t want to let on that Dean’s comments had hit a spot in him and _they fucking stung_.

“Look-” Seth started to say and he didn’t even know what he wanted to say but he had to say something when Dean cut him off again.

“I don’t want to fucking hear any of it, okay? I don’t care. _I’ve never cared_.” Dean said.

“Well that’s a lie and you know it,” Seth said. _Dean cared, he’d always cared_.

Dean was silent for a moment and Seth feared he’d gone mute again. 

“Why would you fucking care anyway?” Dean shot back.

The words “I care,” fall from Seth’s lips immediately and his heart starts to jackhammer in his chest at the admission because _it’s not lie_ , Seth has literally _always fucking cared_ about Dean.

Dean started shaking for a moment and then Seth heard his laughter as he said “And that’s a lie,”

“It’s not,” Seth sighed softly “I’ve… cared more than a… brother should.” Brother? Was that the right word to use? Seth didn’t know. All Seth knew was he’d always known Dean was always _more_ than a brother. They were more close, touchy feely. More protective. They had this… pull towards one another. It was hard to describe but it was addicting. Seth remembered struggling for nights after his betrayal without contact from Dean.

“We were never brothers; you’ve made that perfectly clear.” Dean said with his back still to Seth.

Seth was silent as he played with a stray seam from the cover as he considered his next words, he didn’t want to break the conversation. He needed Dean to hear him.

“You know that’s not true,” Seth murmured. 

Dean’s response is immediate “Don’t,” is all he has to say for Seth to know Dean isn’t ready to talk about this. 

* * *

 Dean opened his eyes and for those brief few seconds he’d forgotten all about what had transpired last night but the feel of someone breathing underneath his ear and the familiar scent had him crashing into reality. He was sharing a bed with Seth, not only that, he was handcuffed to the man as well. For a moment he thought he was the first one to wake until he tilted his head back to see Seth gazing down at him.

“I tried to move without waking you,” Seth murmured softly.

It was then that Dean realised he was the one using Seth as a pillow as well as having his legs intertwined with the man.

“Oh,” Dean said as he disentangled himself and then sat up.

“Look I’ve been thinking…” Seth started to say when Dean interrupted him.

“Did it hurt?” He asked sarcastically.

Seth looked at him for a moment before he carried on as if Dean hadn’t interrupted “Look I’ve been thinking and I think what Paige did was… well it’s helped me. I don’t know about you but it’s forced me to confront a few things and I know you’re not ready but I’ll wait.”

Dean listened and tried to wrap his head around what Seth was saying, it was too early for him to even be processing this. What did Seth even mean? Just… _what_?

“I… It’s too early for this,” Dean said “I… I… What do you even mean? What the fuck is…. If you’re messing with me I swear…”

He was sat up now trying to comprehend what Seth’s words meant. Dean shook his head; it was obvious what he meant. But why now? Why?

Seth turned so he was sat cross legged facing Dean as he looked down at the bedsheets, Dean wondered briefly what was running through his mind when he opened his mouth and started to hammer at Deans defence he’d been building against Seth. “At first I thought we just connected as close friends you know? We had this… thing that just didn’t compare to anything. Then I did what I did and it was easy to just get caught up in it all, the excitement of something new… but it’s not easy for me to see you with Roman or Paige, at first I thought it was me just missing the way things used to be. I do miss things though, I do. But it wasn’t that. I was jealous. I _am_ jealous.”

Dean looked down at their joined wrists as he took everything in. Surely this isn’t real, it couldn’t be. He shook his head unable to take everything in. His head felt a bit dizzy, he hated how Seth had this kind of effect on him.

“I don’t expect you to be ready to forgive me but I have my reasons for doing what I did,” Seth said.

Dean looked up to meet Seth’s gaze “I can’t… You can’t just say this stuff and expect me to… fuck… _what do you want from me anyway_?” he asked.

“I don’t want anything,” Seth said softly “All I want you to know is how I feel, how I’ve always felt about you. And one day I hope to have gained your trust and for you to feel the same way I do.”

Dean bit his lip to stop anything that he might regret from spilling out of his mouth. Seth’s admission was… well it couldn’t have come at a more confusing time for him. Dean was only just fully realising his own feelings for Seth. Instead of spilling his own thoughts and feelings what did come out of Dean’s mouth was “I need to pee,”

“Oh,” Seth said.

* * *

“Turn around!” Dean said.

Seth rolled his eyes at the wall he was currently facing “I _am_ facing away from you,” he sighed.

Silence.

“Seriously, I thought you needed to pee?” Seth asked getting frustrated. He was starting to look forward to getting these cuffs off.

Dean mumbled something Seth didn’t quite catch.

“What was that?” Seth asked as he eyed the light blue bathroom tiles that he was currently looking at.

“I get pee shy okay,” Dean said louder.

Seth laughed “Pee shy? Is that even a thing?”

“It’s a real _condition_. Google it!” Dean replied.

Seth just carried on laughing. 

“Like… turn the tap on and make some loud noises or something.” Dean said.

Seth stopped laughing, he was surprised at how he was capable of even doing that “You’re being serious?” he asked.

“Deadly,” Dean replied.

* * *

 “Why haven’t you told Roman about this?” Seth asked “I mean, you had a chance last night but you didn’t.”

Dean looked up from the book he had open in his lap and bit his lip before he opened his mouth and replied “Just because I’m forced to be around you doesn’t mean I’m going to let Rome voluntarily suffer your presence,”

There was suddenly a feeling in the pit of his stomach that didn’t sit right with him; he didn’t know if it was regret or guilt at the words that had just passed his lips. The feeling only intensified when Seth nodded his head accepting Dean’ words. He sighed unable to bear this feeling as he stated “It’s easier to hate you when you’re an asshole,”

Seth looked at him with a serious expression as he said “I don’t want you to hate me,”

Dean shook his head lightly; being around Seth like this… it wasn’t good for him. It’s confusing him. There are so many memories between them that were swimming around in his head _forcing_ him to remember that Seth hadn’t always been that sumbag asshole. “You can’t just… expect me to _forget_ everything you’ve done.” He said.

“I don’t expect you to forget,” Seth said “I want to make things right. I am going to make things right Dean.”

Dean looked back down at the book that lay open in his lap as Seth’s words sink in. Just then his phone chimed and he checked it only to see a text from Paige. Dean huffed out a sigh as he handed the phone over to Seth.

“Call her. Tell her what she wants to hear and then tell her she’s going to come and undo these cuffs.” Dean said as he turned his attention back to the book. He deliberately tuned out what Seth said over the phone. 

* * *

 

Paige looked relieved once she put the key in the cuffs to unlock them “I’m so glad you finally saw it my way Dean, doesn’t it feel good to have the air cleared between you two?” she asked when the cuffs _clicked_ to signal they were now able to part ways and put as much space as possible between the two of them.

Dean looked down at his free wrist as he briefly contemplated about what had taken place between him and Seth, all this new knowledge of the other man’s feelings. He nodded his head for a moment before bringing his gaze up to Paige.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just so _happy_ you deliberately schemed behind my back to pair me with this backstabbing asshole,” Dean said with a sarcastic smile “Actually, I’ve just had a _brilliant_ idea. Since Seth here has stabbed me in the back and you’ve taken it upon yourself to betray my trust, well wouldn’t it just be fitting for you both to stay the fuck away from me.” He added before pushing his way out of the hotel room and storming down the hallway at a fast pace. The quicker he got some fresh air then the better.

“Dean!” was the last thing he heard Paige call before the elevator doors slid to a shut in front of him and he felt the movements of the elevator bring him closer to his destination. 

* * *

 

“Shit,” Paige said “You fucking said he wasn’t angry with me.”

Seth shrugged his shoulders “What did you expect?” he asked.

“Shit, shit, shit. This was a fucking terrible idea.” Paige said.

Seth bit his lip to contain a smile because it actually hadn’t been a terrible idea. Dean may have unloaded how he felt about Seth but Seth knew Dean still cared. He felt it. “Nah, it wasn’t a complete waste of time like he made it out to be.” He said unsure of why he was reassuring the diva.

“So you two talked?” she asked looking hopeful.

Seth shook his head “This is between Dean and I,” he said.

Paige huffed out a sigh before she shook her head and left the hotel room as well, leaving Seth by himself. His phone beeped in his pocket. Pulling it out he saw it was a text from Dean.

_Alright, you’re not a complete asshole. Still hating on you though._

Seth smiled, progress comes in small steps right? 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this has been almost a month (?), I've been so busy finishing college work and I've had some crazy long hours at work so this has been in bits and bobs, also, I'm giving up on following any sort of timeline. What happens, happens from now on.


	7. problem/bad blood

A lot happens after Seth’s last encounter with Dean. Seth doesn’t know much about what’s going on with Dean or what he’s thinking which is close to driving him crazy. What Seth does know is Dean has completely cut Paige off which he is torn about. On one hand his worries over how close they’d become had been wiped completely and yet on the other hand he could see how Paige is going out of her mind trying to make it up to him. Seth could relate to how desperate she’s been to even catch a glimpse of Dean.

After Dean’s granted a rematch at the Elimination Chamber it’s like Dean falls off the face of the earth completely. Not a sound or a glance. He’s just gone.

It didn’t take long for Seth to notice his absence either. Hunter and Steph were ridiculously difficult to get alone for a few seconds so it’s Kane who delivers the news.

_“Ambrose has taken some personal days,”_

* * *

 

Dean opened his eyes slowly and frowned at the figure that was leaning over him and watching his every move. He closed his eyes and groaned as he felt a bit of heat slowly start to take over his face “Mom it’s _creepy_ when you watch people sleep!” he said.

He felt a hand brush through his hair lightly before his mom replied to him “I barely see you and these are the moments I get to cherish,”

“You cherish when I’m unconscious, wow thanks.” Dean said as he sat up in his bed.

His mom shook her head lightly “You look so peaceful when you’re sleeping,” she said smiling at him.

Dean resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her because if there is one thing his mom does not tolerate is people rolling their eyes.

“Breakfast is on the table ready whenever you are,” she said before she patted his leg once and then got up to leave the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Dean placed his hands over his face briefly as he pondered about the empty day ahead of him. 

* * *

He pulled open the front door to be greeted with a giant bear hug that forced the air out of his lungs “Man why didn’t you tell me you were stopping by?!” the man that had engulfed him asked as he squeezed Dean a bit tighter before he relaxed and let him go.

Dean grinned at his childhood best friend “Probably to save myself from one of those killer hugs of yours,” he said and received a playful punch to the arm as he replied.

“I don’t care about what you’ve got planned, clear your day.” Peter said as he pulled Dean out of the house and down the steps and towards his car. Dean couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his mouth as he got into the passenger seat. Everything with Peter was spontaneous, you never knew what he was about to do. Dean supposed that was why they had always gotten on really well, they were both unreadable.

“You know you never visit often enough,” Peter said as they pulled away from Dean’s childhood home and sped down the street.

Dean shrugged lightly “I get away when I can,” he said.

Peter nodded his head as focused on the road ahead of them “Speaking of… I’m glad you’re here and all don’t get me wrong but what the hell man!? You’ve got a big match coming up! Shouldn’t you be training or something?” Peter asked.

“Relax, todays a rest day. My first day off in who knows how long so training is not happening today.” Dean said as he leaned back into the passenger seat.

Peter nodded his head again before he said “Okay any work talk is banned today,”

Dean was more than happy to oblige, he’d taken some personal days for a reason even if it was during an awkward time. But that was why he took them, so he didn’t have to _think_ about anything related to that part of his life. He’d told Roman before he took off just to let him know he didn’t need to worry about anything.

“First things first then,” Dean said as he turned the radio up slightly “Food.”

* * *

 

Peter locked his phone before he looked over at Dean and grinned “Your mom is not happy with me,” he said.

Dean sighed as he ran a hand over his face “It’ll slide soon enough, she’s happy that I’m back for a few days but I can’t stand her _being_ everywhere I turn.” He said before downing the last of his beer.

Peter nodded his head as he chucked his beer can into the bin and checked the time on his watch and then stood up “Right come on, a friend is having a house party and thought you could let loose for one night.” He said.

Dean stood up and shrugged his shoulders “If it’s a nerd get together then it actually isn’t called a house party,” he said as he playfully shoved Peter out the house.

“Asshole,” Peter laughed.

Dean liked how _easy_ this was. It was like a weight had lifted off his shoulders while he was around the streets he grew up on, the familiar surroundings helped settle him slightly while the alcohol helped slow his thoughts about Seth and what he was going to do and what had been said. He was glad Peter hadn’t questioned about why he had taken time off when he did.

Dean hadn’t been feeling like himself. He’d felt like a robot. Dean would wake up, train, eat, do the show and then sleep. It felt like he’d been on autopilot these last couple of weeks.

The first thing that hit him as they walked down the street was the music and the drunken cheers radiating from the house before they’d even entered the place. He couldn’t think of the last time he’d gone out and gotten really drunk… oh wait, that was probably with Paige. He tried to not think about the diva. As soon as he’d disregarded the thought of her a beer was being shoved into his hand and Peter was pulling him into the overly crowded living room that was filled with some familiar faces and some unfamiliar. He closed his eyes as he took a gulp of beer and let the music drown out any thoughts.

[ ** _'Cause there's no salvation for a bad boy_** ** _, we’re rock bottom, But there ain't no stopping, 'Cause it’s you and me against the world._** ]

* * *

 

“Seriously,” Paige sighed started to get annoyed “Get out of my face; I’m having a hard enough time getting Dean to forgive me. The last thing he needs to think is that _I like you_ when I don’t so if you don’t mind…” she added as she made a motion for Seth to move along.

“Dean’s taken some personal leave so he’s not going to know,” Seth said matter-of-factly.

Paige glared at the man in front of her “If you’re lying and Dean comes round that corner any minute then I am going to kill you and no one will know where to find you. Do you hear me?” she said before poking his chest hard.

Seth opened his mouth to say something when Paige held up her hand to stop him. Her phone started going off and was stunned by the caller.

“What?” Seth asked.

Paige glared up at him as she slid her finger across her phone screen and accepted the call “Dean?” she asked unable to believe he was calling her but the sound that filled her ears was not Dean’s voice. She took the phone away from her ear and frowned as she double checked that she had seen the caller ID correctly “What the…” Paige said as she put the phone to her ear again “Dean?” she said louder.

The only sound that greeted her ears was loud music. She disconnected the call with a sigh.

“Dean called you?” Seth asked.

Paige shook her head “Must’ve been an accidental thing or something,” she muttered to herself “But that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t want you hanging around me _or_ Dean-” she added when Seth interrupted her.

“ _You’re_ the one that handcuffed us together in the first place!” Seth said.

Paige glared at the man coldly “That’s a mistake I won’t be making again, Dean means too much to me and I’m not going to lose him over someone _like you_.” She said

“ _Dean means too much to you_? You two have been friends for what? Five minutes? Are you really so desperate to have friends that you cling to anyone who shows you a bit of attention?” Seth asked coldly.

Before Paige knew what she was doing Seth was looking right and her hand stung. The thought of slapping him hadn’t even crossed her mind until she was actually doing it.

“Hm Roman _was_ right about you…” Paige said “You really do have a face that people love to punch… I mean it was something along those lines right?” she asked before walking off in the opposite direction.

* * *

 

The next couple of days pass in a blur for Dean. He’s either at the gym training or he’s out running with Peter. Running with Peter takes longer than necessary due to the breaks of “ _Oh shit, oh fuck, my side feels like it’s being ripped to shreds_.” or “ _Fuck it I’m dying! I’m dying_!”

Before he leaves to be picked up by Roman he wonders if his mom plans on letting him go at any point but she still tightens her grip around him for seconds which feel like they stretch into minutes “I love you,” she said before placing a kiss on his cheek and finally releasing him.

“Love you too,” Dean said before picking up his duffel bag and walking out to the car where his dad is waiting in the driver’s seat, his dad down right refused to let him make his way to the airport by himself. 

* * *

 

Dean managed to get some sleep on the flight and as he walked through the arrivals part of the airport he couldn’t help the relaxed smile on his face as he saw Roman standing waiting for him. Getting away had been a great idea, not only did he feel refreshed and focused but he finally felt like himself again.

“Hey, you look really well. A few days away really suited you.” Roman said as soon as Dean approached him.

“I missed you,” Dean said as he patted his brother on the back.

Roman smiled at him “Missed you too man,” he said as they headed out of the airport together.

“Miss anything interesting while I was away?” Dean asked as he followed Roman to his car.

Roman shrugged lightly “Can’t think of anything,” he said “Hey man, I’m just gonna run back to the bathroom before we set out onto the road. You get yourself sorted.” He added as he passed the car keys over to Dean.

Dean chucked his duffel bag into the boot of the car and sat himself into the passenger seat. He’d thought _a lot_ about what Seth had said to him while he was away and he passed his phone between his hands torn between texting him and not texting him. Every moment he resisted meant his window of opportunity closed, Roman would be back soon.

“Oh screw it,” Dean muttered angrily to himself as he unlocked his phone and opened the messaging app. He typed out his message slowly and suddenly became unsure as his thumb hovered over the ‘send’ button. Any moment now Roman could be back. Dean held his breath as he pressed ‘send’ just as the driver door opened causing Dean to jolt violently.

“Sorry man didn’t mean to scare you.” Roman apologised.

Dean smiled back at Roman “Don’t worry, I was miles away.” He said as he glanced down at his black phone screen. The text he just sent still fresh in his mind.

**DA – SR** [ _I think it’s time we talked about this_.]

* * *

 

Dean returns a couple days before the Elimination Chamber. He remembers his match with Bray Wyatt before he took his personal leave and thinking about the man just makes his blood boil. Deans fired up; he can feel the urge to fight coursing through his veins as he watches Wyatt verse Ryback. He watches Ryback deliver shellshock to Wyatt.

_One.. two.. three.._

The bell is being rung but Dean barely notices as he runs down the halls and through the curtain and down the ramp. He didn’t want to interfere and hand a win to Wyatt, that would have just been too easy and whether Dean wanted to admit it or not, he had some respect for Ryback. He barely hears the ‘DEAN AMBROSE’ chants from the crowd.

[ ** _Band aids don’t fix bullet holes, you say sorry just for show, if you live like that you live with ghosts, if you love like that blood runs cold, cause baby now we got bad blood, you know it used to be mad love, so take a look what you’ve done._** ]

Wyatt’s feet just touch the floor as Dean pushes him back so he hits the apron hard. Wyatt shouts out in pain and touches his back when Dean pushes him into the post so he hits his head off of it.

“You know you used to have _some credibility_ ,” Dean shouts at him “You’re not the face of fear, you’re the face of a joke.” He adds laughing in Wyatt’s face and it feels good to let some steam off.

He kicks Wyatt in the stomach and delivers a dirty deeds, Wyatt’s face hitting the floor hard. Good, Dean thinks, it made him laugh really. Wyatt going around calling himself the new face of fear and yet… who feared him?

Dean didn’t.

If Dean remembered correctly, Ryback practically doubled over with laughter at Wyatt.

As he walks back up the ramp with a grin on his face, he thinks about how happy he is about his comeback. 

 


	8. little talks

So the Elimination Chamber happened. Dean didn’t want to go in too much detail about it, he already felt lousy enough as it is. His throat was so sore and dry, every single muscle in his body just ached and he couldn’t maintain a steady temperature. One minute he was so hot he was sweating and having to kick the covers off and then the next minute he was shivering because he was so cold and couldn’t get under the covers quick enough.

Roman had insisted that if Dean wanted a few hours to himself then Roman would be more than happy to oblige _only if_ Dean left his phone on and agreed to Roman going out to get all the medication needed to fight the flu as well as foods to help ‘ _boost his immune system and aid his recovery_ ’.

Dean opened his eyes feeling a bit out of sorts as he could hear someone knocking on the hotel room door, he didn’t know what the time was and he definitely didn’t remember falling asleep. Dean used all his energy and pushed himself upright as the knocking continued on the door. “Alright I’m coming,” Dean managed to say but it came out as a whisper which ended in a coughing fit as he took the long journey to the hotel room door and yanked it open expecting Roman to be all apologetic about forgetting his key.

Seth’s face went from looking worried to looking concerned as soon as he glanced Dean using the door frame as a support to keep him upright “You said it was only a cold,” was all Seth said as he stepped in and guided Dean back to his double bed which was currently messy with the sheets all tangled and the pillows thrown on the floor. Roman’s bed looked spotless in comparison.

“I don’t even remember talking to you,” Dean whispered as he lay back down on the bed “Why are you even here?”

Seth sat at the end of the bed and placed the carrier bag that he’d been holding on the floor before he replied “I called to see when you wanted to talk…” and when Dean looked at him blankly he added “I said you sounded awful and you said to come over because it’s only a cold.”

“None of this means anything to me; last thing I remember is throwing the covers off because I was getting too hot.” Dean said.

Seth frowned slightly as he got up and came over, placing his cold hand on Dean’s forehead. Dean closed his eyes enjoying the coldness until Seth retracted his hand a couple moments later. “You’re burning up, I’ll open the window.” Seth said however Dean wasn’t sure if Seth was talking to Dean or if Seth was just talking to himself.

When Dean opened his eyes Seth was sat on the right hand side of the bed where the nightstand was and was emptying the carrier bag out. “I’ve got you water, painkillers… but the packet said it also helped in fighting the flu, some throat sweets and some hard boiled sweets. Oh and some tissues. I also got you some Lucozade, I remembered you only drank that the last time you had the flu.” Seth said before he turned to glance at Dean once again.

Dean raised his eyebrows at him “You got all that for me?” he murmured before a coughing fit took over.

Seth offered him two painkillers and the bottle of water which Dean took gladly. He really appreciated this, especially when the cold liquid went down his throat making it feel less constricted. “I’d do anything for you,” Seth said “You should know that.”

“Are we really going to have this talk when I’m practically oozing the plague?” Dean asked.

Seth chuckled for a moment “You always were a drama queen when you were ill,”

Dean scoffed which turned into a cough before he managed to reply “Coming from a constant drama queen that’s pretty rich, I have a right to over exaggerate when I feel like death!”

Seth held his hands up in a mock surrender “Okay, okay. I understand where you’re coming from. Do you need anything else?” he asked softly.

“Yeah,” Dean said.

Seth stood up from the bed “What would you like?” he asked.

“I need you to grab the laptop and bring it over here, I’m feeling generous enough to let you stay and watch a film with me.” Dean said.

Seth smiled at Dean before nodding his head and grabbing the laptop off of the desk and returning to the bed. He slipped his shoes off before returning to sit beside Dean.

“There’s a DVD already in there,” Dean said as he watched Seth type in Dean’s password and click on the DVD icon.

“The Maze Runner?” Seth asked.

Dean nodded his head “It’s decent, just watch.” He said before resting his head against Seth’s arm without thinking about it as he watched the film start. 

* * *

 

“Gally, you fucking piece of fucking shit.” Dean muttered sleepily, seriously this dude was pissing him off with all his fucking whining and bitching.

Seth chuckled slightly “I’ll have to agree with you there,” he said. 

* * *

 

Dean opened his eyes and placed his hand beside him for it to only be met with the warm sheet. He was confused as he turned over to face the other side of his bed. There was no Seth. Looking around him he could see the laptop was placed back on the desk with the lid shut and on his bedside table there was everything Seth had got for him. He grabbed around the bed for his phone to check the time. In doing so he saw he had a text message.

**SR – DA** [ _I know we didn’t do much talking but thank you for calling me… even though you don’t remember doing it. I hope you feel better soon. If you’re awake and I’m not there… I left before Roman could return and murder me. Text me to let me know how you get on x.]_

Oh.

Roman.

The door to the bathroom opened causing Dean to jump out of his own skin and Roman appeared. “Well evening sleepyhead,” Roman said.

“Uh… I didn’t hear you come back,” Dean said as he moved himself into a sitting position.

Roman shrugged lightly as he moved to his side of the bedroom “I didn’t want to disturb you, sleep is good for you right now. Have you been hydrating yourself? You need to be drinking plenty of fluids.” He said sternly sounding more and more like Dean’s mother.

“Have you ever considered the possibility of you being in the wrong profession?” Dean asked smiling at his best friend.

“Sometimes,” Roman grinned at him as he sat down on his bed and nodded his head to the nightstand “I see Paige is still trying to make it up to you.” He said.

Dean looked at the supplies Seth had gotten him and back to Roman before he nodded his head slightly “I… uhm… yeah, yeah. How… how did she _know_ I was sick in the first place?” he asked.

“I warned her to stay away while you weren’t feeling great,” Roman said “It’s a nice gesture though.”

Dean nodded his head in agreement. It definitely was a nice gesture. From Seth. Dean felt guilt set in, he should really tell Roman about that. He opened his mouth to say something when he started to cough quite harshly.

“Have you eaten anything today?” Roman asked looking concerned.

Dean shook his head “I couldn’t stomach something if I tried,” he whispered, his throat returning to its sore and dry state. He reached across for the water.

“You feel sick too?” Roman asked.

Dean shook his head “I don’t _feel_ sick, I just… I’m worried that if I eat something and carry on coughing then I might bring it back up. You know how I am when it comes to being sick… I just…” he said trailing off. He’d hated how Seth and Roman had learned of his anxiety surrounding vomiting.

“Okay,” Roman said not pushing the subject further “Maybe tomorrow we can try if you’re feeling brighter.” 

* * *

 

It was a ridiculous time. Absolutely ridiculous. He shouldn’t be _wide awake_ at 03:56am. His fucking sleeping pattern had been ridiculously fucked right after… _right after he left Dean_. Oh.

Dean had been having problems sleeping after Seth left him. Seth was having problems after leaving Dean.

He was momentarily blinded by his phone lighting up and signalling someone was calling him.

“Rollins,” he answered without bothering to check the ID.

The other line was silent for a moment and Seth considered hanging up when there was a soft “Hey,” and oh my fucking god, Dean was calling him.

“Hey,” Seth replied just as softly.

“I hope I didn’t wake you… actually that’s pretty stupid thing to say, it’s almost four in the morning. I’m sorry if I woke you.” Dean rambled softly and Seth grinned into the darkness.

Seth sat up in his bed “No, no, it’s fine. I was up. What’s up?” he asked softly.

“It’s just… I… you… you bought me flu stuff and sat with me and I was awake and had this urge to just… it’s stupid… I wanted to hear your voice.” Dean said so softly causing Seth to strain to hear everything he said.

“Dean,” Seth said before exhaling “I would do anything for you. You can call me whenever you want. I’m just grateful to be able to spend time with you; it’s not easy watching the person you… the person you love from afar.”

Well… it was out there now. There was silence on the other end for a couple of moments before he heard Dean let out a breath and then cough.

“Love,” Dean said softly as if the word was new to him and he was trying it out for the first time “I guess it was about time one of us said it. You always had to beat me to the best bits eh.”

Seth was stunned into silence. _I guess it was about time one of us said it. You always had to beat me to the best bits._ What… what… Dean…

“You love me?” Seth asked unable to believe he was even muttering those words “I… after everything I’ve done, I thought you hated me?”

Dean was silent for a couple of moments after that and Seth’s heart was fucking beating so hard against his chest he felt like he was about to throw up. He was happy. He couldn’t believe… he thought Dean… how was he still able to deserve this? How?

“I took some personal leave because I was afraid,” Dean said softly “I thought I was losing who I was. I’d had this big realisation about how I felt and it was such an inappropriate time for those feelings to come to light. I was torn. I hated you, I loved you, I hated you some more. You said some things and I didn’t know if you were messing with my head and I didn’t know if I wanted you to be messing with me so I _could_ hate you or if I wanted you to be telling me that you felt the same way.”

Seth listened carefully, his heart jackhammering in his chest.

“I’ve never truly hated you Seth,” Dean sighed down the phone before bursting into coughing fits.

“I don’t understand,” Seth said “I thought I had no chance now, after everything I’d done and said.”

“And yet you stuck around,” Dean whispered “You told me you were going to make things right.”

“I am,” Seth said immediately “I’m not losing you again.”

“Goodnight Seth,” Dean said softly.

“Night Dean,” Seth replied.

_Love you._

The line went dead. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i hope you're all enjoying this so far, i couldn't wait until after watching the elimination chamber so that's why there is no direct mention to who is the champ, i'm so conflicted about who i want to win! I love both Dean and Seth and will be happy either way. Who are you all rooting for?


	9. can't deny my love/style

Dean sighed as he sat up in his double bed in his horribly silent hotel room. Roman had left just under half an hour ago in favour of cheering Paige up and apparently what he had planned was going to last the _whole day_. Dean was going to go insane being left alone by himself _all day_. Yep, definitely going to go insane. Hell, he’s already nicknamed as being ‘unstable’ might as well add ‘insane’ as well. Thanks Roman.

Dean glances at his laptop on the desk and remembers Paige telling him how she had binged watched a full show in a day. One of those Netflix shows. Dean’s just getting out of his bed to grab the laptop when there are two taps on the hotel door.

Dean knew _exactly_ who would be stood there as he opened the door to see Seth standing there looking very casual.

Dean rose an eyebrow at him “You seem to possess the ability to drop by whenever Roman is absent. Is that just pure luck on your part or are you stalking me?” he asked teasingly.

Seth shook his head lightly as he smiled when he replied “I can’t reveal my sources… but I _can_ promise I’m not stalking you.”

Dean let Seth into the room and closed the door. He turned to face Seth who had made himself comfortable on Dean’s bed. Seth always seemed to have the ability to make himself at home wherever he goes. Dean joined Seth on the bed, resuming his previous position of being wrapped up in the covers.

“You look more like yourself today,” Seth commented softly.

“I feel more like myself,” Dean said.

Seth nodded his head “Good. That’s good.” he said and as soon as that was out of his mouth he was sitting upright on the bed “Okay so what do you want to do, I hear we have _all_ day before Roman returns.” he added.

Dean stares at Seth for a moment before he grinned “You _are_ fucking stalking me aren’t you?”

“I can’t be held accountable for Jamie and Joey _accidentally_ eavesdropping on Roman and Paige making plans,” Seth said as he held his hands up in a surrendering motion.

Dean shook his head feeling amused at Seth “Alright. Fair enough. Get me out of here then, I cannot stand to be lying in bed doing nothing for another day. You _have_ to get me out of here.” He said.

Seth chuckled “It’s not like it’s prison Dean, you can get up and leave the room whenever you want. My rental is in the parking lot, where do you want to go?”

Dean shrugged “I don’t know,” he said “Wherever. I don’t care.”

“Okay,” Seth said.

* * *

[ **What's going on in your head now? Was it something I said? I know that you've been living in the past. What's going in your head now? Maybe something I said, it's driving me crazy, and you can try to lie, But you're not gonna, not gonna deny, No you're not gonna, not gonna deny my love**.]

Just being in a car with the widows rolled down filling Dean’s lungs with warm fresh air was enough to lift his mood considerably. The warmth on his face that spread through his body was enough to put a smile back on his face. He hadn’t been this relaxed since the car journey he took with Roman that felt like a lifetime ago. If during that car journey Roman had told him that Dean would willingly be in a car with _Seth_ feeling as relaxed as he had then well… Dean would have laughed at him.

It was crazy Dean thought as they passed by pedestrians walking along the busy streets as he thought back to that car journey where hate only coursed through his veins for Seth. He remembered how angry, how betrayed, how _heartbroken_ he’d felt. He can’t describe what he’s feeling right now, sure he loves Seth, he’s admitted that but he still has this doubt in the back of his mind. He doesn’t know how he can still _doubt_ Seth’s feelings for him but he can’t be blamed for wanting to guard himself.

“What are you thinking about?” Seth asked pulling Dean out of his thoughts which had been quickly heading towards a dark place. It was like Seth _knew_ Dean was heading down that line of thought.

“Definitely _not_ how pissed Roman will be at us when he finds out that you lured me out of my bed while I was meant to be in bed resting,” Dean answered teasingly.

Because now that he thought about it, Roman wasn’t going to be pissed.

Roman was going to be _fucking furious_.

“Who said anything about Roman finding out?” Seth asked.

“Do you not watch tv or read?” Dean asked “Somehow it _always_ gets out. You watch… one way or another Roman is going to find out and he’s not just going to kill you, he’ll fucking kill me too.” he added.

Seth chuckled “It’s not like… well it’s you know, we’re not… _it’s not like we’re cheating on him_ , this isn’t some romantic drama thing you see on tv Dean.” He said after finding the right words.

Dean rose an eyebrow “But we’re going behind his back with this,” he pointed out.

“With _what_?” Seth asked.

“With _us_ ,” Dean said “With _seeing_ each other in a romantic way.”

Seth grinned at the road ahead of them as he said “Is that your roundabout way of asking if we’re in a relationship?”

“Why would I need a fucking roundabout way to know that?” Dean asked knowing their touching on a subject Dean wasn’t ready to discuss. He’d not long admitted to his feelings and jumping straight to ‘relationship’ would just be… overwhelming.

Seth’s quiet for some time after that which Dean’s not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. Until Seth opened his mouth.

“Can I confess something?” Seth asked softly.

“Shoot,” Dean replied slowly unsure of what to expect.

“It’s just… Paige. When you two started hanging out… well, I thought you two were _together_.” Seth said.

Dean wanted to laugh at him for a moment thinking he was joking but Seth was being open with him and he didn’t want to embarrass him.

“Oh,” Dean said “Yeah, no, that’s not… we weren’t a _thing_. Ever. We’re not on good terms right now.” He added.

“Is that because of what she did?” Seth asked.

Dean shrugged “It wasn’t _what_ she did. It was… it’s just she felt the need to interfere in something that was none of her concern and she knew how much you hurt me and she still had no problem in going behind my back and scheming.” He said.

Seth nodded his head slowly as if he understood “When you were away she told me to stay away from you,” he said softly “and then she slapped me.” He added.

“Seriously?” Dean asked.

Seth nodded his head “She cares about you,” he said “I can see it. I’m actually one hundred percent certain that she might kill me if I ever do anything that doesn’t sit right with you.”

Dean smiled softly as an aching feeling took over his stomach; he had missed Paige a lot. He knew he was being stubborn about it all.

 

“Yeah,” Dean sighed “She’s got a big heart.” 

* * *

They were laid out in the double bed as Dean huffed out a sigh before he stated “That was probably one of the best McDonald’s I’ve ever had,”

“You always say that after you’ve been ill,” Seth said and even though Dean wasn’t looking at him at that moment in time it didn’t matter because Dean knew Seth had rolled his eyes.

 

“And it always holds a truth,” Dean said as he laughed. 

* * *

“No,” Seth said as he hit the remote control button to change the music station again.

“No,” Seth repeated moments later.

“No,” Dean said in unison with Seth as he took the piss because Seth did this every single fucking time they watch the music channels and every single fucking time it winds Dean up.

“No,” Seth said when Dean snatched the remote out of his hand.

“I _like_ this one so you can wait until it’s finished,” Dean said as he held the remote protectively.

Seth looked at the tv and then back to Dean while he turned it up a bit. “That’s Taylor Swift,” Seth commented.

Dean looked at him expectantly “Yeah, and?” he asked.

“I… I didn’t think you were aware of her music at all,” Seth commented.

Dean shrugged again before swaying his head side to side as he sang along silently “ _So it goes,_ _he can't keep his wild eyes on the road, takes me home, lights are off, he's taking off his coat, I say I heard that you been out and about with some other girl, some other girl_.”

Seth was shaking his head slightly “I cannot take you seriously right now,” he said sounding like he was resisting the urge to laugh.

* * *

“Hey thanks for today it’s really meant a lot.” Paige said smiling while they’re waiting to be served their order at KFC.

Roman shrugged his shoulders lightly “Hey, I’ve picked up on the talent of cheering someone up. Lots of practice with Dean these last few months.” He said.

“I feel bad about taking you away from him for the day,” Paige admitted.

Roman waved it off “Don’t be, he’s probably just sleeping the rest of the flu off. Wouldn’t have been much fun anyway.” He said.

Paige nodded her head “How’s he feeling now?” she asked.

“Yeah he’s feeling a lot better now,” Roman said “No thanks to the supply you got him. I swear you don’t take no for answer.”

Paige frowned at him “What supply?” she asked.

“Don’t worry; I know it was you who got him the water, tissues, cough sweets and that.” Roman said smiling at her reassuringly trying to convey that he wasn’t bothered.

Paige chuckled as she said “Dude I do not know what the fuck you’re on about. You said to leave him be and that’s what I’ve done.”

Roman frowned “But he…” he said before he noticed the concerned glance Paige was giving him “He must’ve gotten it himself. Roman smiled at Paige before his order number was being called out saving him from any further embarrassment.

They soon find a table to sit at and eat their dinner. Roman was trying his best to not overthink the whole Dean thing.

“You alright Rome?” Paige asked softly.

“Yeah, yeah. Just don’t tell Dean we’ve had KFC, he’ll moan about us not getting him any.” Roman said.

* * *

“We have to watch the next one,” Dean said immediately as the credits appeared on the laptop screen. His mouse hovering over the button that allows them to play the next episode on Netflix.

Seth dropped his head so it was laying on Dean’s shoulder as he groaned “I hate you for introducing me to this,”

“You know what would make this even better?” Dean asked as he turned over slightly so he could glance at Seth. They were currently lying on their sides so Seth was technically being the big spoon.

“What?” Seth mumbled.

“Chocolate, popcorn, oh and a coke.” Dean said.

“Don’t you think you’ve had enough junk food today?” Seth asked.

“No,” Dean answered immediately.

“Fine,” Seth huffed out, his hot breath tickling Dean’s neck as Seth moved and Dean instantly missed the warmth beside him “Just don’t start the next episode without me.” He added before he got off the bed and slipped his shoes on.

Dean nodded his head and promised as he watched Seth take Dean’s key to the room and then he left. 

* * *

 Dean could feel himself falling asleep, his eyes would close and then he would jolt himself awake. The episode was almost finished and he could wait until the credits. He didn’t want to miss a thing. He was also stuffed from the binge out that he and Seth had not long ago participated in. There had been chocolate, sweet popcorn, chili heatwave Dorito’s and a big bottle of coke.

When the episode did finally end he felt Seth gently removing the laptop from his grasp and turn it off before he returned it to the desk. He then felt Seth sit back on the bed and place a kiss to the top of his shoulder.

“Thank you for today,” Seth murmured softly.

“Mmm, was nice.” Dean agreed sleepily.

“I wish everyday could been like how todays been,” Seth said.

“One day it will be,” Dean said before he yawned and snuggled deeper into the duvet.

“Goodnight Dean,” Seth said.

“Night,” Dean said and that was the last thing he remembered before he slipped into unconsciousness feeling very content. 

 


	10. speaking in tongues

 Roman tried to just shrug it off, you know?

He could handle Dean just agreeing when Roman had assumed Paige had bought him some flu supplies in order to have an easy life. Roman could be… he admits he can be a bit much when someone is ill but it’s because he _cares_ and wants to make sure they rest as much as possible. It eats at him for the next few days. Just small things really.

He’s snappy towards Dean without even meaning for it to come out that way.

Dean looked at him and sighed “I’m just gonna head out if you’re gonna be acting all pissy again today,” then he slammed the door behind him.

Roman closed his eyes and groaned. It’s been like this for the past few days. It’s only a little white lie and Roman doesn’t understand why it’s been bugging him this much.

But there are other things that add up now Roman thinks of it.

When Dean’s phone signals he’s got a text he jumps to reply straight away. Not only that but he always eyes Roman before and after sending a reply. Roman feels like he’s being left out of something. Dean will take phone calls outside of their hotel room door at random hours during the night, especially when he thinks Romans asleep (he knows this because he put it to the test the other night).

* * *

“Hey, everything okay?” Seth asked when he opened his hotel door.

Dean sighed as he stepped into the room “Roman’s being all pissy and it’s driving me insane. I… I actually didn’t know where I was going until you opened the door.” He admitted softly.

“Well I was wondering when it would be you turning up at my door,” Seth grinned.

Dean chuckled “You mean so you didn’t have to worry about me thinking you were stalking me?” he asked teasingly.

Seth cocked his head to the side as he pulled a face “Not _exactly_ the way I wanted you to view me,” he said.

Dean shook his head lightly with a smile on his face “Shut up and come here,” he said as he took a step closer towards Seth.

“Oh yeah, and why’s that?” Seth asked as he raised an eyebrow.

“So I can do something the flu prevented me from doing,” Dean said before grabbing a fistful of Seth’s surprisingly soft jumper and using some unnecessary force to pull him close enough for him to smash their lips together. 

* * *

“Just… Dean I’m sorry for being so pissy lately, I don’t know what’s come over me. Just when you get this call me back and beers are on me okay?” Roman said as he finished his voice message.

Roman sighed as he checked the time on his phone to see Dean had been gone for at least three hours now. It’s not unlike Dean to disappear for hours when there is tension between the two because it helps them both sort themselves out. The tension currently between them was Roman’s fault.

Roman did sometimes wonder where Dean would end up for those hours. Especially more so after Rollin’s betrayal. Dean had been a fucking mess and it was only after the betrayal had Roman pieced together how Dean had felt about Rollins and then everything clicked. Roman not only knew how Dean felt perhaps before even Dean realised what he’d been feeling but he knew that Rollins had felt the same.

It felt wrong and foreign to call his brother by his last name. It just didn’t feel natural and it _didn’t sound right_. But Rollins had not only betrayed them, he’d broken Dean’s heart and that was unforgiveable to Roman. 

* * *

 

Roman was growing tired as well as starting to become irritated by Dean’s silence.

He’d never felt this way about Dean gathering time for himself but… _was Dean gathering time for himself_ or was he going behind Romans back with something?

All of this… _all_ of it over some stupid _flu remedies_.

Roman shook his head and decided going to bed early and apologising tomorrow sounded like the best option. That way no arguments would be involved. 

* * *

 

“… well I was not expecting that,” Seth said.

Dean nodded his head in agreement “Definitely unexpected,” he said.

“You know if Roman is still being pissy you can always stop here for a few days if you need,” Seth said softly.

Dean smiled as he looked down at the sheets “You’d risk outing this to Roman?” he asked absently while his thoughts returned to Roman.

“Yes,” Seth said instantly “I don’t care how Roman takes the news… it’s not down to him to _decide_ if we get to be happy together. He’s… he obviously means a lot to us but in the end we don’t need his permission. What matters is that we’re risking _everything_ to make this work after our past.”

“I know,” Dean said “I’ve been thinking about that actually.”

“About telling Roman?” Seth asked.

“Yeah,” Dean said nodding his head “He deserves to know.”

Seth ran his fingers through Dean’s hair before he asked chuckling “So can you tell me when I need to plan my funeral for?”

Dean laughed softly “I’m beginning to wonder if it’ll be a joint one at this rate,”

Seth laughed “We could come back and haunt the fuck out of people like Bray Wyatt and Sheamus and Randy,”

Dean nodded his head as he said “Oh my god, I’d fucking fuck with Wyatt until he joined the afterlife too.” 

“I don’t doubt that,” Seth said smiling warmly at Dean. 

* * *

 

Roman isn’t sure what woke him at first as he blinks into his pillow and then he hears the soft shuffling of feet and the sound of covers being pulled.

“Dean?” Roman whispered into the darkness.

There’s no reply for a moment and Roman wondered briefly if he’d been dreaming.

“Shh, go back to sleep.” Dean replied softly. 

Roman laid his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. 

 

 


	11. bloodstream

Seth’s sat in his locker room glaring at a spot on the carpet; the last few days have been hell between him and Dean. Not just professionally but also personally.

_“What the actual fuck Seth, that was fucking harsh don’t ya think?” Dean practically yelled down the phone at him._

_Seth sighed “Look it’s not my fault for defending myself,”_

_“DEFENDING YOURSELF?” Dean yelled down the phone outraged “Go fucking fuck yourself asshole.” and the line went dead._

J&J and Kane had started an attack on Roman after a match and it would have been out of character for Seth to not join in. Seth would admit even he thought it had been harsh. Dean had come out with a kendo stick and gone to town with it on Seth, Kane and J&J which then sparked a row between the two of them later on privately.

_“Dean, just pick up please.” Seth sighed down the line of Dean’s voicemail service._

It’s been a week and Dean had been doing a fantastic job of evading Seth entirely. It had taken a toll on Seth’s mood drastically. He was snappy with everyone and he was unable to stay still for too long.

Seth had glimpsed Dean on the screen when he had gone out and helped Paige backstage after the Bella’s had carried on the match long after it had finished. Dean had disappeared by the time Seth managed to get to Roman and Dean’s locker room (luckily Roman had seemed to disappear with him).

Seth turned his attention to the screen in his locker room. Dean had a match against Kane or something and this was Seth’s only proper chance to see him. Kane’s music hit and he made his way down to the ring but when Dean’s music hit, he didn’t appear. Kane was in the ring looking around with a confused frown and Seth had to admit it was very unlike Dean.

The lights cut then and Bray appeared on the big screen looking as creepy as ever. He was laughing softly.

“Dear oh dear, where is our ever favourite lunatic fringe? Fear not, Kane, Dean will not be making an appearance for your match tonight, oh no, no, no. I’m afraid… Dean is a little tied up at the moment.” Bray said as the camera zoomed behind him to show a figure Seth recognised instantly to be Dean slumped in a chair. Seth stood up immediately alert. “You see… if Reigns wants him back then it’s fairly simple… _come and get him_ … if you can find us!” he added before the screen went blank. 

* * *

 

Roman stood out in the middle of the ring, he had given Paige strict orders to stay backstage and search while he tried to draw Wyatt out. “Bray Wyatt _thinks_ he can mess with me, _thinks_ that I’ll sink down to his level. You see it wasn’t working out too well for you was it Wyatt? That’s why you took Dean. The _same_ Dean that destroyed your stupid little rocking chair. You see not only am I going to hurt you when I get my hands on you but when Dean can, and I promise he will, Dean will hurt you too.  So why not get your ass out here and get to the part where I superman punch you in that face?” he said before dropping the mic and motioning for Wyatt to come out.

He waited for a moment, anticipated the moment the lights would go and he would come out. But that never came. It agitated Roman more than anything.

But the big screen showed movement and a stick was being waved side to side slowly for a moment. Then Wyatt stepped in front of the camera so everyone could clearly see him and Roman realised that Dean was in the background. Wyatt moved and brought the stick up and then brought it down on Dean’s shoulder. Hard. Dean cried out and Roman practically saw red. The anger rushing through him made him feel practically invincible in that moment. 

The screen went blank again and Roman didn’t realise he’d left the ring until he was half way up the ramp. As far as he was concerned Bray Wyatt had signed his own death warrant.  

* * *

 

Seth hadn’t actually realised how big the arena really was until he was searching for someone. He’d be damned if he let Wyatt anywhere near Dean and after what he’d just seen he was going to rip that man to shreds. Hunter and Steph had loved every moment of it “ _it’s what’s best for business, look at how into it the viewers are_ ” yeah alright, entertainment aside it was interesting but then it got _physical_ and Dean was _hurt_.

That wasn’t okay with Seth.

He threw open a door and called out “Dean?!” when a figure stepped out in front of him with their hands on their hips.

“And what do you want with him?” Paige asked coldly “I specifically remember telling you to stay away so-”

“I don’t fucking have time for this, Dean’s hurt and I need to find him. The Authority isn’t too bothered when they _should_ have security searching this place.” Seth sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. He was starting to lose hope; he didn’t think he’d have enough time to search every single room in time.

Paige eyed him with a strange look in her eye “Oh my god you’re being serious,” she said softly before pulling him into the dark room and closing the door.

“Yes!” Seth exclaimed “I need… I need to find him. Just… “ he couldn’t form any coherent sentence as he looked at the door longingly. He needed to be out looking and searching, not standing around chit chatting.

“I can’t believe I didn’t put this together sooner…” Paige muttered softly before shaking her head “Alright so I’ve searched the basement and all the other dingy places where no one goes. Apparently there’s this big storage cupboard on the other side of the arena that’s rarely used so that was my next target. I guess two is better than one right?”

Seth nodded his head “Yes,”

“Alright let’s go,” Paige said. 

* * *

 

“Roman calm down,” Stephanie said “we understand your concern and we _promise_ we didn’t know it was going to turn into anything physical.”

Roman crossed his arms tighter over his chest as he looked from Stephanie McMahon to Hunter and back to the woman again “I _apologise_ if I don’t hold much faith in the authority but I don’t see how I get thrown out of the building for being a bit rough with some people only for Wyatt to full on _abduct_ and then _attack_ a fellow employee and there is _suddenly_ no security trying to find him.” He said trying to keep his voice even.

“We are handling the matter and understand the severity of the situation in this case there will be a suitable punishment for Bray Wyatt.” Hunter said.

Stephanie stepped forward “Look for the camera’s Roman we have to play our parts as well as we can and we’re glad with how well everyone is able to play their part but you have to understand that Dean’s wellbeing and safety are as much as a priority as Seth’s. I will not tolerate any employee’s safety and wellbeing put in jeopardy. So please, trust us when we say we are going to handle it.” She said sincerely.

Roman nodded his head, he hadn’t heard anything from Paige yet so he had assumed she still hadn’t found anything. It was making him nervous. 

* * *

 

Dean was sore and ached tremendously.

“Tell me Dean…” Bray Wyatt said softly “How are you finding your surroundings?”

Dean looked around the dark and dirty room before looking back at Wyatt “I’ve seen worse,” he replied already feeling disinterested in the conversation. He fucking _ached_ and he was counting down the minutes until he could repay the favour with the kendo stick.

He couldn’t imagine how Roman was right now.

“What about the company?” Wyatt asked as he cocked his head to the side.

Dean eyed him for a second “Could do with improvement,” he replied.

Bray Wyatt chuckled “Dean, Dean, Dean… I want to hear you calling out for help so I can see the look of hopelessness on your face when you realise that no one is coming.”

Dean threw his head back and laughed “You’re really unhinged in the head aren’t you? I am not some idiot in a horror. I’ll sit back and wait for Roman to hunt you down and then I’ll gladly watch as he tears you apart piece by disgusting piece.” 

* * *

 

_“Dean would you just chill out?” Seth asked._

_“Chill out?” Dean asked immediately in that tone that Seth knew meant he had said the wrong thing “Roman could barely move for almost two days because of you and you want me to fucking chill? I’m starting to wonder why I’d ever love a coward like you. I considered telling Roman everything you know? Telling him about us, about how you’re not who you pretend to be for the camera’s. So no I’m not just going to chill out because you’re only fuelling his hatred for you and you’re starting to make me wonder if you really are who I fell in love with.” Dean said before hanging up and leaving Seth staring at his hotel room floor._

“So what’s like the deal with you two?” Paige asked as they neared the cupboard.

Seth shrugged lightly “He’s not too happy with me right now so I don’t know what the deal is,” he admitted softly.

“The Roman business,” Paige said knowingly “Yeah… remind me to fucking punch you in the face after we find Dean.”

“Noted,” Seth said.

Paige stopped walking for a moment so Seth stopped, making sure he was at least a couple paces away from her.

“Dean’s like a brother to me. I know the history between you two and how much you hurt him. If you _do_ anything to hurt him _like that_ again then trust that I know people who know how to make someone disappear. For good. And as for the whole you and Dean thing… when it comes to Roman, I know nothing. Cause when he finds out… well, I can’t imagine it’s gonna be pretty.” Paige said before they headed to the cupboard again. 

* * *

 

Dean wondered if he’d nodded off or something because when he opened his eyes there was no Bray insight and that unnerved Dean more than anything because that fucker had better not have just _left_ him here.

“Ambrose?” he heard faintly.

“What the fuck do you want?” Dean asked.

Randy came into view and opened his arms like he was offended “Hey, that’s no way to talk to your knight in shining armour.” He said.

“Well it’s a shame the knight is a fucking dick then isn’t it?” Dean replied grinning.

Randy chuckled “Shut the fuck up Ambrose,”

It wasn’t long before his ties were cut and he was freed. That was when Paige and Seth came into view.

“Dean!” Paige exclaimed before pushing past Randy and wrapping her arms around his neck tightly causing him to wince slightly.

“Careful, his shoulders are a bit sore.” Randy said.

Paige didn’t let go of him immediately and Dean chuckled “I’m fine just a bit sore that’s all, gotta thank this piece of shit for finding me.” as he motioned to Randy.

“I’ll accept repayment in the form of beer and food,” Randy said “I’ll go let Hunter and Steph know where to send the medics so I’ll be in touch.” And then he left Dean alone with Paige and Seth.

“I literally searched high and low for you!” Paige said before finally releasing him from her crushing hug.

“Thanks,” Dean smiled at her before turning to look at Seth standing there “Don’t worry, I don’t plan on beating you up anytime soon.” He said.

“Don’t… just don’t. I was worried alright? I fucking love you and I was scared something terrible was going to happen.” Seth said as he stepped forward so he was closer to Dean.

Dean looked down at his shoes for a moment as he let Seth’s words sink in before he looked at him again “I think you’re being dramatic, it was only Bray Wyatt.”

“Dean he fucking beat you with a kendo stick, no one knew how far he was going to take this.” Seth said as he crouched down so he was at Dean’s level.

Dean was increasingly becoming aware of Paige’s presence even if she was trying to not be so obvious about it. 

“I know,” Dean sighed softly “I love you too even if I’ve said a few things that may have been a bit spiteful.”

“Yeah, look, it doesn’t matter now okay? I’m just glad you’re okay.” Seth said as he leaned his forehead against Dean’s. The moment was nice. Dean smiled to himself.

The scrape of feet against the cement floor was enough to jerk him out of the moment and he looked up to see Roman standing there “What the fuck,” Roman said. 

* * *

 

Roman’s mind was racing at the scene in front of him. The room was fairly dark but there was enough light for him to know that he definitely wasn’t seeing things “What the fuck,” Roman said.

“Roman-” Dean started to say when Seth interrupted him.

“Roman, please, not here. Can we just wait until Dean’s been seen by some doctors or something and then I promise we’ll tell you everything.” Seth said.

Roman looked between Dean and Seth “ _We_?” he asked.

“Rome, please don’t freak out.” Dean said softly, his eyes pleading with him. 


	12. in the middle

Dean bounced his leg and picked at the hem at the bottom of his top, he was resisting the urge to pace back and forth. He was full of nervous energy and he knew both Seth and Roman were aware of this fact. “Roman I swear I was going to tell you a few weeks ago but… well, what happened obviously happened and I was pissed at Seth and I was nervous that you’d be fucking pissed at me and Seth,” Dean said softly.

“A few weeks ago?” Roman asked looking up from his seat on the other bed “how long _has_ this been going on _behind my back_?”

Dean looked from Roman to Seth who was standing near the window and then looked back to Roman before he shrugged lightly “Maybe a little over two months I guess,” he answered.

Roman shook his head lightly as he stared straight past Dean “I _told_ you to stay away; I _said_ you didn’t deserve him. Why didn’t you just stay away?” he said and Dean opened his mouth and squinted at Roman unsure what he was talking about.

Seth dropped his gaze from Dean to look at the floor “We didn’t have a choice, we were-” he said.

“Didn’t have a choice? I find that hard to believe.” Roman said interrupting Seth loudly.

Dean ran a hand over his face as he tried to take everything in “You spoke to Seth about staying away? When?” he asked.

“AJ’s leaving party. He was giving you heart eyes and I went to tell him straight that after _everything_ that he’s done to you, he didn’t deserve to _still_ look at you that way.” Roman said before shaking his head and standing up and moving to stand near the bathroom and putting more distance between himself and Seth “What I’m more interested in is how this even became a thing.” He added.

“Before we tell you everything, I have to tell you both something. It’s long overdue and I understand if you don’t want to hear me out but I miss you both. I just… I have to let you know that I’ve never stopped caring.” Seth said as he took a step away from the window “Before I did what I did I had been starting to doubt what was next for us. What more could we possibly do? It worried me. What if we had already reached the top and were unable to maintain our position? I now see how stupid that was. But I’d read this stupid article online written about us, how unnecessary Seth Rollins was to ‘The Shield’ because a revenge seeking Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose would be more entertaining, imagine them standing back to back in the middle of the ring fighting for survival…” Seth continued his voice getting louder as he tried to cover the hurt in his voice.

“You _betrayed_ us because you were being self-conscious?” Roman asked coldly.

“I didn’t want to be left behind alright? You have everything going for you! Everyone wants to see Roman Reigns fight everything in his way to reach the top to succeed and Dean has his amazing mic and promo skills and _everyone_ practically loves him beating whoever decides to cross him. What about me? Where do I fit in there?” Seth asked.

“You really don’t see it do you?” Dean asked softly “People loved that you were a part of a team who had each others backs, you came up with amazing schemes to defeat our opponents to get what we wanted.”

Roman chuckled as he shook his head “That really backfired didn’t it? I mean, you were worried people would start to find you boring or some shit but now they down right can’t stand you.”

“Anyway I was approached by Hunter and he offered me a position in The Authority and told me to think about it, which I did. I had a pro’s and cons list. There were times I walked to his office intent on turning him down but never fully made it there. I was flattered and ecstatic that people saw I had potential to be _the_ champion and I never fully realised the price I would pay.” Seth said. 

Dean had never asked Seth to tell him _why_ he had decided to betray them, he’d been afraid of what Seth would say. He didn’t know why he had been afraid of hearing Seth’s reasoning but now Seth has spilled everything unprompted and Dean didn’t know how he felt now he knew everything. Maybe a little bit relieved. He just wasn’t sure.

“I think you’re a fucking scumbag,” Roman said filling the silence “but you’re my little brother. I may still consider you my brother but that doesn’t mean I like or forgive you.”

“Look when you told me to stay away at AJ’s party I had every intention of doing so and when I say we didn’t have a choice, I’m not lying. Dean and I were literally handcuffed together for the night.” Seth said.

Roman pulled a face and put his hands over his ears “I don’t want all the details,” he said loudly.

Dean rolled his eyes and shook his head “Not like that, no. Look Paige handcuffed us together and forced us to spend a whole twenty four hours together. You phoned me and I told you I’d booked a room at a small motel or something for an uninterrupted nights rest.” He said.

“…Wait, _Paige_ set you two up?” Roman asked.

Seth frowned slightly “In a way… I guess you could say she put it into motion,” he said.

“She had good intentions I suppose,” Dean said.

“That’s why you two fell out right? That’s why you were both weird about telling me why you two had fallen out.” Roman said.

Dean nodded his head. 

“I don’t want you to be angry at Dean or anything,” Seth said “It’s not been easy for him to keep this from you. These past few weeks I’ve actually been in the permanent doghouse with him because of… yeah.”

“I had fun with the kendo stick,” Dean said shrugging.

“The point is that he may love me but he’ll always have your back no matter what and he’s proved that,” Seth said as he moved to sit beside Dean on the bed.

“Why’d you say that?” Dean asked.

“What?” Seth asked.

“ _He may love me_ ,” Dean said imitating his voice “you know I love you.” He finished in his normal voice.

Seth shrugged slightly “I don’t know it’s just been the past couple of weeks and what happened tonight with Bray and Randy.” He said.

“Oh my god,” Roman muttered under his breath.

“What happened with Randy?” Dean asked confused.

Seth made a face “It kinda seemed like he was flirting with you,” he said.

Dean burst out laughing “Seth, oh my god, you think… I’d… with Orton…” he said between fits of laughter.

“I don’t know Dean,” Roman said sounding far from amused “Orton is a decent man, and he’d definitely be a step up from a backstabbing self-conscious weasel.” 

* * *

 

“Seriously Roman what the hell,” Dean whispered in the bathroom they were currently talking privately in.

Roman cocked his head to the side slightly “You seriously thought I was just going to hear him out and roll over and forgive him just like that? I’m sick of people thinking I’m this big softie who dishes out forgiveness like it means nothing.” He said not bothering to whisper in case Seth heard something that hurt his feelings.

“I don’t know, I just thought that things were going well… they were civil at least.” Dean said.

“Dean, when he picked up that chair and put it to our backs, it was to be malicious. Remember how we could barely walk? Now remember when he practically rendered me bed bound for a few days not that long ago? Why should I be civil to him?” Roman asked crossing his arms across his chest.

“Roman-” Dean started to say.

“Remember how detached you were? How angry you were? Who was there for you when you couldn’t sleep? _Who was there when you almost ran yourself into the ground_ with all the training? I’d never seen you so sad. He single handily managed to do that to you when you didn’t know you loved him, how am I meant to be accepting of this when I can’t trust that he won’t do that to you again?” Roman said.

Dean nodded his head slowly “I wish I could ease your worries, I really do but I am an adult and I’m more than willing to take the risk.” He said.

“Dean I’m not going to make you choose to stay with him or leave him because that would make me an asshole and I think that’s pretty high school-y,” Roman said “I’m just saying don’t expect me to be jumping for joy for you or be expected to trust him. I have your back, always. Just be careful.” 

* * *

 

“He just needs time to see that you’re not as much as an asshole as I once thought you were,” Dean said as he laid his head on Seth’s shoulder in the darkness of the bedroom.

“…Thanks I love you too,” Seth replied softly.

“I do love you,” Dean said as he closed his eyes already comfortable enough to drift off to sleep.

“I’m sorry if I sounded a bit paranoid about Randy earlier,” Seth said.

“It’s fine,” Dean yawned as he snuggled closer to Seth.

“Hey Dean?” Seth whispered.

“Yeah?” Dean asked.

“Roman’s gonna come round to this right?” Seth asked.

Dean was silent for a moment before he replied “Yeah, like I said he just needs time. He cares a lot and he just needs it proven that you’re not gonna hurt us.”

“I know,” Seth sighed.

Dean sighed softly; this was the first time in the last few days where he and Seth were not arguing about something or other. It was a nice moment to have after the last few weeks having been so rocky between the two of them. 


	13. can you feel my heart/firestones

[ ** _Can you hear the silence? Can you see the dark? Can you fix the broken? Can you feel can you feel my heart?_** ] Dean took his earphones out as he slipped his shoes off.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” Roman said as he looked through his suitcase.

Dean sat on his bed and was silent for a minute as he realised Roman had caught on quite quickly. Yes Dean had in fact been doing his best to avoid Roman but it wasn’t personal. Dean looked down at his lap as he fiddled with the earphone wires “It’s nothing personal Rome, I know how you feel about Seth and I don’t want to be displaying whatever it is that we are in your face.” he said softly.

Roman swiftly dropped his suitcase on the floor causing it to make a loud noise which made Dean flinch involuntarily, Roman wasn’t one to be loud. He was always quiet. Dean was the loud and noisy one. “Damn it Dean,” Roman more or less shouted “I’ve been doing my best to be as supportive as I can even if it means _accepting_ that Seth is what makes you happy but I have this odd feeling that you don’t like that I know, in fact it seems like you’d rather be _sneaking around_ behind my back still.”

Dean sighed “That’s ridiculous; I’m relieved that you know-”

“Then why do I feel like that’s a lie?” Roman asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“I wouldn’t lie to you!” Dean shot back as he stood up and faced Roman.

Roman pulled a face “That’s pretty rich since you’ve been lying to me for weeks,” he said.

“I wasn’t lying to you… I was just… we were…” Dean said struggling to find the right words. He felt the familiar feel of anger coursing through him, how dare Roman accuse him of lying to him!

“Just tell me what it is! What is it Dean!?” Roman demanded.

Dean put his fingers to his temples for a moment because everything was bubbling up inside of him.

“Dean!” Roman said.

“What!” Dean shouted “What do you want me to say Roman? You want me to say that I felt like I betrayed you the moment I sent that text to Seth? You want me to say that I was so torn between seeing Seth and feeling guilty about not telling you that I physically felt sick some nights? I may not have put an actual steel chair to your back but I went to _the enemy_. I hated not telling you but I also needed it to just be me and Seth so I could figure out everything without outside influences.”

Dean inhaled deeply after everything came spilling out. Roman had an unreadable expression on his face and suddenly Dean was incapable of standing still.

“You didn’t betray me,” Roman said softly “how could you think that after everything we’ve been through together?”

Dean shrugged “Because it’s Seth…” he replied. 

Roman smiled slightly “That doesn’t mean you betrayed me. Dean… when we were ‘The Shield’ we had some differences from time to time and we weren’t as close as you and Seth or Seth and I. But we’ve pulled through and come to be stronger together and you’ll always be my brother no matter who you love. I’m not pissed at you being with Seth, I was pissed at the thought of you not trusting me enough with whatever it is you two have going on.” He said.

“I really was going to tell you weeks ago,” Dean said “but everything that happened I just delayed it because I was scared you’d react badly.”

Roman smiled softly “Don’t get me wrong I still want to superman punch that asshole in the face but I’ll save it for the ring,”

“Thanks,” Dean said laughing softly.

Roman nodded his head “No problem,” he said. 

* * *

 

Dean looked up from his book and rolled his eyes when he realised Seth was probably mentally telling his championship belt how much he loved it and was going to defend it from Lesnar at Battleground.

“I’m jealous actually,” Dean said “You get to visit suplex city… _bitch_.”

Seth looked up from the belt and raised an eyebrow “You’re joking right?” he asked.

Dean frowned “Why would I joke about that? Lesnar is a worthy opponent to face, I’d be honoured to be in the ring with him.” He said seriously.

“You sound like Thor,” Seth commented before shaking his head lightly “wait… you’re going to be at Battleground right?” he asked.

Dean shook his head “Nah, it’s a shame actually. I can’t ask Lesnar to spare that face of yours.” He said grinning at Seth teasingly.

“Spare my face? _Spare my face_? What do you think he’s gonna do to me?” Seth asked suddenly becoming serious.

“Seth you literally took that title away from him from right under his nose. You capitalised on one of his weakest moments. You literally managed to anger him to the point he went on a fucking rampage that had him out of the business for months. I think Lesnar is probably planning to kill you with suplex after suplex.” Dean answered honestly.  

Seth was silent for a moment as he looked intently at the cover on the bed, probably considering Deans words.

“I’m actually a bit insulted you don’t think I can beat him,” Seth said.

Dean sighed as he put his book aside and moved to join Seth at the bottom end of the bed “It’s not that I don’t think you can beat him, I just think he’s been focusing on this moment a lot longer than you have so he probably has thought of a million ways to inflict as much pain as possible.” He said.

“So what I’m hearing is you think I can’t beat Lesnar and you think I’m gonna die…” Seth said basically summing up Deans initial thoughts on how the match is going to go “where are you going to be when I’m going to be publically murdered then?” he asked

Dean smiled softly as he placed his head on Seth’s shoulder “Such a drama queen,” he said “I was actually going to tell you… after Randy’s match against Sheamus we’re gonna meet up for that beer and maybe some dinner. Disclaimer dinner is probably going to be McDonalds or some form of fast food.”

“Beer and dinner, sounds a lot like a date to me.” Seth said and Dean honestly couldn’t tell if the man was joking or not. 

“Well it’d be better than any date you’ve ever taken me on then,” Dean said laughing lightly at the hint in his words.

Seth used an elbow to lightly jab him in the ribs “We’ve never been on a date… oh…” he said suddenly realising at what Dean had hinted at “Ha. Ha. You’re hilarious.” He added sarcastically. 

* * *

 

[ ** _When we touch, you inspire, feel the change in me tonight, Take me up, take me higher, there’s a world not far from here, we can dance in desire, or we can burn in love tonight, our hearts alight, Firestones_**.]

Dean nodded his head lightly in time with the music playing in the background of the pub. He was currently stood at the bar awaiting the two beers he had ordered from a really moody looking bartender. He nodded his head in thanks when the bartender placed them in front of him. Picking the two cold glasses up off of the sticky wooden bar, Dean made his way back to the table Randy had sat at. 

“Thanks,” Randy said.

“No problem, least I could do.” Dean said.

The pub was slowly starting to fill up with people. Dean wasn’t the best person when it came to socialising so he did his best to not fidget in the semi comfortable seat to show that he felt a bit uneasy. It was… odd with it being just him and Randy. Something that had never occurred before.

“Bit surprised you didn’t wanna stay behind and watch how the show pans out,” Randy commented.

Dean shrugged “I could say the same about you,” he replied.

Randy nodded his head in acknowledgement “Didn’t fancy watching Lesnar take Rollins to pieces, figured it was gonna happen.” He said with a slight shrug.

Dean nodded his head in agreement, if there was something Dean was completely certain about it was that Seth was definitely going to visit Suplex City. “Yeah,” Dean said softly to himself.

It wasn’t long before both of them had finished their drinks and Dean was ready to go buy the second round of drinks because it beat sitting here and trying to continue small talk with Randy.

“So I hear you’re renowned for your habit of dancing on bars when intoxicated, please don’t tell me you’re a lightweight…” Randy said with a grin.

Dean rolled his eyes “One video goes up and suddenly that’s the one interesting thing about me,” he said.

Randy laughed “It is definitely different,”

“It doesn’t happen often, a sober Roman never trusts me to not fall and break my neck or something.” Dean said.

“Are these people gonna get a sight tonight?” Randy asked.

Dean shrugged “I don’t know,” he said before motioning to the still moody looking bartender “do you think it’ll cheer him up?” he asked. 

* * *

 

Roman had just closed his laptop and placed it on the floor beside his bed when he heard the door open, someone stumble and then the door closing loudly. So Dean had made it back in one piece then. Roman tried to suppress an amused grin when he heard Dean whisper not so loudly “Shhh, you’re gon’ wake Ro up.”

Roman expected Dean to walk into the room normally but Dean appeared in the room as he tripped over nothing and almost fell face first to the floor. He placed a hand on the wall to steady himself “Heeey RoRo,” Dean said.

“RoRo? You sound like a five year old.” Roman chuckled.

Dean did however fall face first onto his bed, not even bothering to remove his shoes. “You’re five,” Dean said and moments later Roman could hear him snoring softly into the pillows.

“Good night out I’m guessing then,” Roman muttered to himself.

* * *

 

Dean groaned into the pillows as he become fully aware of the killer headache. “I’ve died Roman, I’ve actually died.” He mumbled into the softness of the pillows.

“Unfortunately Roman is unavailable to deal with your corpse at the moment,” a familiar voice said softly.

Dean would’ve sat up to look at Seth but he felt that if he did just that then he would probably throw up all over this nice bed “I’d move if I thought it wouldn’t make me want to be sick,” he said “I’m surprised we’re not corpses together if Roman let you in.”

“I’m as surprised as you are,” Seth said.

“Wait…” Dean said as yesterday’s events came back into his mind “Lesnar didn’t kill you with his suplex’s either, what happened?”

Dean felt Seth punch him on the arm before he felt Seth sit beside him on the bed “Undertaker showed up halfway through the match, you should’ve seen Brock’s face. It was just… ah, I don’t think I’ve seen him look so scared.” Seth informed him.

“Damn,” Dean said.

“Yeah,” Seth agreed.

“Seth?”

“Yeah,”

“I love you,”

“I love you too,”

Dean smiled into the pillows before he felt his body tense “Good, can you get me the bucket and then go in the bathroom for the next couple of minutes.”

“Gonna be sick?” Seth asked as Dean felt Seth move off the bed.

“Mmhmm,” 

* * *

 

Seth exited the bathroom after disinfecting the bucket as well as he could and placed it beside Dean’s side of the bed when he heard the hotel room door open and close.

“I’ll just go… if he wakes up tell him I cleaned the bucket again for him,” Seth said to Roman as he grabbed his stuff and was ready to leave the room.

Roman looked at him before sighing “You don’t have to go,”

“…Thanks,” Seth said unsure if Roman was just saying it to appear polite but deep down hoping for Seth to leave anyway. He wasn’t fully sure because Roman can be unreadable at times.

“Just don’t think this makes all forgiven because it doesn’t,” Roman said “I’m doing this because of Dean.”

“I know you have reservations about me and I can understand why you wouldn’t trust me. I just have to let you know that I don’t plan on losing Dean twice.” Seth said.

Roman looked at him for a moment before nodding his head “Your word means nothing to me, just prove it.” He said before going into the bathroom and closing the door behind him. 


	14. i don't want to miss a second with you

Seth was in a pretty bad mood, he’d been having a pretty shit week. There were only two highlights and that was being able to room with Dean while Roman was on holiday and Seth had unintentionally broken John Cena’s nose. Losing tonight to Cesaro and Dean had set him in a conflict. On the one hand he was happy for Dean but he was also feeling particularly moody about it. It didn’t help that Triple H and Stephanie gave him that look as he passed them by. The look that practically told him what was running through their minds ‘ _failure_ ’.

Seth closed his dressing room door and turned to see Dean sat waiting for him “Thought you’d be out celebrating with your new buddy,” Seth commented hating how cold it had sounded.

“Are you seriously really pissed about tonight’s result?” Dean asked with a flash of surprise on his face.

Seth shrugged as he dug through his gym bag to get into something more comfortable “Was it really necessary for you to team with Cesaro tonight?” Seth asked disregarding Dean’s question.

“Shit,” Dean said sounding amused “I felt bad for the guy, no one else from the locker room was gonna come out and I get along with Cesaro so yeah, I thought I’d come out and help my _buddy_ out.”

“Dean you barely get along with anyone in the locker room,” Seth pointed out “so I apologise if I find it hard to believe that.”

Dean got up and moved across the room “Paige invited me out so I’m gonna go before this turns into another fucking argument and let you cool down,” he said sounding a bit pissed off before closing Seth’s locker room door behind him loudly.

Seth sat down on the bench and sighed as he covered his hands over his eyes, he didn’t know what was going on between him and Dean lately. One moment they’re good and it’s amazing and the next they’re stepping on eggshells and arguing. Seth is aware that there are still some issues between them which have Dean on guard still. 

* * *

 

Dean pushed his fries around his plate not feeling particularly hungry “I don’t know,” he sighed “lately we seem to have hit another rough patch. I think spending all our time together isn’t good for us right now.”

“You two have been through a lot,” Paige said shrugging lightly “you’ve got history together so there’s bound to be a few rough patches.”

Dean looked down at his drink “I… I sometimes wonder if it would’ve been easier to just carry on acting like I hated him instead of all this sneaking around.” He admitted softly and once it was out he started to feel a bit guilty for even thinking that way.

“You wouldn’t have lasted long Dean, you were a mess and everyone knew it.” Paige said softly as she put her hand on top of his in what he assumed was meant to be a comforting gesture.  

“Maybe not,” Dean said “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“Let’s change the subject altogether then,” Paige said.

Dean nodded his head in agreement when Randy appeared at their table with Cesaro at his side “Hey, mind if we join?” Randy asked.

“Sure,” Dean said.

Paige grabbed her phone off the table “What I _need_ is a selfie with the winners of tonight’s main event match,” she said “plus Randy.”

“…Thanks?” Randy said looking unsure.

Paige got the four of them to lean in close together to snap the picture.

“We make a good team,” Cesaro said “seeing your reversal of the power bomb was impressive.”

Dean nodded “Thanks,” he said. 

* * *

 

Dean entered the hotel room feeling on edge about what to expect regarding Seth’s mood, this past week he’d been in the shittiest mood ever and it had started to rub off on Dean. He had to physically keep busy otherwise he would’ve texted Roman to come back early before he killed someone.

“I thought you’d be out until much later,” Seth said from the bed.

Dean stood at the end of the bed as he said “We only met for something to eat, we’ve not properly spoken in a while. Ran into Randy and Cesaro as well oddly enough.”

“What a coincidence,” Seth muttered.

“What’s that meant to mean?” Dean asked already fully aware of what it meant.

Seth looked up at him and raised an eyebrow “You just want to rub it in some more about how you beat me?” Seth asked “Or that Randy showed up?”

Dean sat on the end of the bed as he took in a breath and released it “Look… I’ve been thinking and we seem to just be irritating each other lately, so I think its best we take some time for ourselves for a little bit-” he said.

“You’re breaking up with me?” Seth asked sounding hurt.

“How can we break up when we don’t even know what we are? I’m not saying we finish things, I’m just saying we give each other a bit of space. Maybe this way we can chill out a bit and figure out where we’re at.” Dean said softly.

Seth had an unreadable expression on his face “I… I… I thought you love me,” he said.

“I do love you!” Dean said “It’s just this week has been fucking awful for us, you’ve been in the shittiest mood and you’ve been taking it out on me. You’ve twisted my words. I think maybe a couple nights apart might do us some good. It’s not like we’ve had much time to ourselves is it?”

“So this is my fault?” Seth asked loudly.

Dean closed his eyes for a moment and inhaled and exhaled to calm himself down “I didn’t say that,” he said carefully.

“But it’s implied,” Seth said as he threw the bed covers off of him and got out of the bed.

“No it’s fucking not-” Dean said when Seth interrupted him “Don’t keep fucking swearing at me!”

Dean threw his hands up in the air “Oh my god that is _it_ Seth, your attitude fucking _sucks_ lately. You’re going back to that whiny little bitch that you play up for the cameras. So fucking what if I helped Cesaro out tonight and so fucking what if Randy happened to be at the same restaurant as me tonight? I’m not fucking interested in Randy. Now I’m going to go to my room tonight and tomorrow my phone is going to be _off_ so when you decide to sort whatever is fucking bothering you out then please call me.” He said as he grabbed his suitcase and headed for the door. 

* * *

“You did what?” Paige asked looking surprised.

Dean scrunched up his face before he said “I literally told him to sort it out or otherwise not to call I guess, I mean I can’t even remember what I fucking said I was starting to get pissed off.”

Paige looked at him with a soft look in her eye “I’m glad you feel comfortable talking to me about this Seth stuff,” she said.

“Well Roman’s not here so don’t get used to it,” Dean said jokingly.

Paige pouted before she pulled a face “Does this mean I should take down that Instagram post of our selfie from earlier?” she asked.

“Nah you might as well leave it,” Dean said as he got comfortable on the bed. Paige had a spare bed in her room and offered it to Dean when he realised that it was probably too late to check into a room.

“Okay,” Paige said before sighing “I hope things get sorted.”

“Me too,” Dean murmured to himself.  

* * *

 

“Shit,” Seth muttered to himself as he went over the nights events.

He hadn’t meant to take his frustrations and paranoia out on Dean. He’d been paranoid about Randy being after Dean ever since Randy had shown up and helped Dean after Bray Wyatt decided to up his level of creepiness. Seth knew Dean had no interest in Randy but Roman had commented about how he thought Dean would be better off with Randy and then they went for drinks and Seth knows he completely blew it out of proportion in his head. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” Seth said.

It’s fine. It’s okay.

After tomorrow Seth will call Dean first thing and get this big mess sorted out. Yeah that’s what he’s gonna do. 


	15. one last time i need to be the one who takes you home

_Ring ring_.

“Seth it’s like one in the morning,” Dean said as soon as he answered the phone, at first Seth had thought he’d woken Dean up because he sounded exhausted until he heard a door close in the background and curtains rustling.

“I wanted to call to tell you I’m sorry… wait, where are you?” Seth asked frowning because wherever Dean was it sounded busy.

He heard Dean sigh “It’s fine, nothing to worry about. Look once we can get out of-” he said when Seth interrupted him.

“We?” Seth asked.

“Me and Paige,” Dean said “when we can get out of here I’ll come to your room if you want.”

“Sure,” Seth said “what do you mean when you can get out? _Where_ are you Dean?” he asked.

“We’re at the hospital,” Dean said so softly that Seth almost missed it from the overwhelming noise of the background.

“ _What_?” Seth asked as he bolted out of bed instantly “Why?”

“Just some asshole driving drunk, rear ended Paige and me earlier. We’re fine; fucker messed up the back of my car though.” Dean said before he let out a sigh.

“ _Dean_ why didn’t you fucking call me?” Seth practically yelled down the phone as he started to dress himself “I’m on my way, which hospital are you at?” he asked.

“I didn’t want to worry you,” Dean said “and there is no reason to be worried because _I’m fine_.”

“I’m coming to get you either way now tell me where you are,” Seth said as he grabbed his car keys off the bedside table with unnecessary force that the lamp almost crashed to the floor. Seth knew he shouldn’t be this worried when Dean has reassured him that he’s fine but come on… this is Dean. “I can’t believe you didn’t call me, I’m your…I mean we’re… I won’t be long.” He added. 

* * *

 It’s three thirty in the morning and Seth still hasn’t managed to get a moments sleep. He’s not too sure about what’s keeping him up until he rolls over to look at the sleeping figure of Dean beside him and it kind of dawns on him, tonight could have been so much more worse than a couple of bruises and a scratched up car. Dean had played everything down all the way back to the hotel as to not worry Seth.

“Oh Dean,” Seth whispered softly as he lightly traced patterns on Dean’s exposed shoulder. 

“Go to sleep,” Dean mumbled sleepily.

“I am,” Seth replied softly as he continued to trace patterns on the other man’s shoulder.

Dean doesn’t respond immediately so Seth assumes he’s fallen asleep again until Dean huffs out a sigh and turns so he’s facing Seth “I know you,” he said “you’ve not had any sleep yet.”

Seth brings his hand up to Dean’s temple and brings it down to trace along the bottom of Dean’s jaw “Maybe I’m not tired,” he whispered, he wasn’t sure why they were whispering when it was just the two of them in the room but it felt like if they broke the silence then the moment would be over.

“Bullshit,” Dean whispered with a half-smile “you okay?” he asked before snuggling closer and laying his head on Seth’s shoulder.

Seth stared up into the darkness of their shared room as he exhaled “No,” he admitted “I keep thinking of the past year we’ve had, how the past week has been for us… how tonight I didn’t even know you were at the hospital and I don’t like feeling like I’m losing you all over again.”

Dean brought his hand up to lay across Seth’s chest as the both of them processed what Seth had said when Dean turned his head slightly and pressed a soft kiss to the side of Seth’s jaw.

“We’ve come so far in such a short amount of time,” Dean said his lips ghosting over Seth’s ear “We’re going to experience a couple setbacks but you’re not losing me, if you would have told me a year ago that Seth Rollins top scumbag was going to be my boyfriend then I probably would’ve gotten Rome to superman punch you in the damn mouth.”

“I’m not a scumbag,” Seth whispered when he felt Dean drop his head lightly to rest against the side of Seth’s head.

“That’s what you decide to pick up on?” Dean asked.

Seth chuckled lightly “I like the sound of that,” he said “not the scumbag bit, the boyfriend bit.”

“I know what you meant,” Dean said chuckling lightly “nerd.” 

“Shut up,” Seth said lightly, he wanted the exact opposite actually. He never wanted Dean to shut up or shut him out again. He’d been there and bought the fucking t-shirt and it was shitty place to be.

Dean chuckled next to Seth’s ear making him shiver slightly when he said softly “Make me,”

* * *

 “Hey man,” Dean said as Roman basically enveloped him into a big hug “you all okay?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around his brother returning the hug.

They both released each other before Roman nodded “Yeah,” he said as they walked the airport together “I’m all good now, I’m _so_ good that when I see Wyatt again I’m going to put him down. For good.”

“Yes!” Dean said with all the enthusiasm he could muster at two in the morning. He didn’t understand why Roman had to pick such an _early_ flight especially after Dean’s super late night the day before “That’s the Rome we all know and love.”

“How have things been then?” Roman asked as he threw an arm over Dean’s shoulders as they neared the exit of the surprisingly busy airport “I’ve barely heard from you, started to wonder if you’d dropped your phone down the toilet again.”

“That was one time,” Dean pointed out “things have been alright I guess, not much to say really.”

They walked out the airport and into the mild night as Dean led them to Seth’s car; as soon as Roman spotted it he stopped and looked Dean with an expression that read ‘ _really_ ’ and all Dean could offer was a shrug in response before they continued to the car. Seth had _insisted_ on driving Dean, it felt a lot like he was being babysat by his _boyfriend_.

“Hey,” Seth said as soon as the two of them were both in the car “how was your holiday?” he asked while glancing at Dean.

“Alright,” Roman answered.

Well Dean counted that as some sort of progress, at least there were no superman punch threats flying around.

“So what, are you two like, joined at the hip now or something?” Roman asked as he pointed between the two of them.

Dean raised his eyebrows “No, Seth just _really_ wanted to-” he started to say when Seth lightly punched him in the arm and then interrupted him.

“Dean doesn’t have a car,” Seth said “and I’ll tell you why he doesn’t have a car. A drunken idiot crashed into the back of his car the other night.”

Roman looked at Dean before raising his eyebrow “So that’s nothing much to say is it?” he asked.

“I’m _fine_ ,” Dean said “look it was barely anything alright, me and Paige were lucky.”

“Damn right you were,” Seth muttered as he pulled out of the airport car park. 

* * *

 He bounced his knee and rubbed his hands together, he was tempted to tug at the collar of his shirt but that would show he was nervous and showing weakness in front of Hunter and Stephanie probably wasn’t what they wanted in their WWE World Heavyweight Champion. It didn’t help to ease his nerves though. He sat on one side of the desk as they both sat on the other side.

“Seth,” Stephanie said “we were just wondering if everything was okay?”

Seth rolled his shoulders before sitting up a bit straighter in his uncomfortable seat “Why wouldn’t it be?” he asked.

“You seem to be a bit distracted lately,” Hunter said as he looked over to his wife who nodded in agreement.

“You have to understand we can’t have our champion appear to be distracted,” Stephanie said “Brock Lesnar will exploit that to his advantage in your upcoming match.”

Hunter shrugged “We just want to make sure that there’s nothing going on that will cost you the title,” he said.

“I honestly don’t know what to say,” he said “Everything’s fine… nothing’s going on.”

“Okay,” Hunter said as he slid a big brown envelope across the table to Seth and motioned for him to open it “so you don’t count this as a distraction?” he asked.

Seth opened the envelope to find pictures of him and Dean walking out of his hotel room the other day and another load of the night when he and Dean went to pick Roman up from the airport, he frowned down at them “This is an invasion of privacy,” he said.

“We like to think of it as _protecting_ our investment,” Hunter said as he tilted his head to the side.

“My personal relationships are none of your business,” Seth said “I don’t recall our relationship bringing any bother to the storyline these last few months.”

“So mood swings don’t count as a bother?” Stephanie asked.

“Everyone has mood swings!” Seth said as he stood from the chair and made a point of keeping the pictures “Dean and I are capable of keeping our personal relationship from affecting work so I don’t see your need to have these.”

“Seth,” Stephanie and Hunter said in unison.

“Save it,” Seth said before leaving their office so angry that he could feel his hands shaking slightly as he clutched the photographs. 

* * *

 “What do you want?” Roman asked without looking up from his phone.

Seth sighed “Are you busy?” he asked.

“I’m busy watching whatever this shit is,” Roman said immediately pointing at the blank television screen which he was _not_ paying attention to.

Seth placed the pictures in front of him and the moment Roman looked away from his phone to the pictures he looked up at Seth with a questioning look “Hunter and Steph just gave these to me,” he explained as he ran a hand through his hair.

“What the fuck,” Roman said “that’s messed up. What do they want?”

Seth shrugged “They think Dean’s a distraction and that Lesnar is going to use that to win.” He said before sighing again “I don’t know why I came to you; I’ve not told Dean because he’d go fucking mental or something.”

Roman stood up then and looked at Seth with a look that could kill “I swear if you use this to _hurt_ Dean again I will fucking hurt you, do you hear me Rollins?” he said.

“I’m not going to hurt Dean,” Seth said “I just don’t feel comfortable with them following me.”

“Well if it bothers you that much, lose the title.” Roman said simply.

Seth opened his mouth to protest when Roman shut him up by talking again “I mean it, if you don’t have the title why will they need to keep tabs on you? If it really bothers you and not only show how much they clearly don’t trust you then I don’t see why you should keep it.”

“If I lose the title on purpose they’ll…” Seth said trailing off as his mind came up with horrible scenarios and the only seemingly pleasant one was being fired.

“Probably drop you from the cover of The Authority since you’ll have no real purpose to them,” Roman said finishing Seth’s sentence “probably put you in another title match against Lesnar for a chance to win it back… realistically you wouldn’t have a chance.”

Seth bit his lip as the idea seemed to become more attractive in his mind “I could take Lesnar,” he said.

Roman gave him a look that suggested he thought otherwise “Wrestlemania. You cashed in when it suited you, not at the beginning of the match or in the middle but when Lesnar and I were _barely_ standing. That is the only time you have ever had a chance against Lesnar.” He said.

Seth looked down at his feet before looking up at his brother again “I’m really sorry about that,” he said and he meant it, he really was sorry. Truthfully he had been rooting for Roman that night but Seth had joked with Hunter about cashing in and the man _loved_ the idea.

“Past is the past,” Roman shrugged.  


	16. baby i'm preying on you tonight

Dean staggered up the ramp to head backstage; Big Show really had done a number on him. He’s annoyed that he just missed the count; it was becoming entertaining to annoy the giant by getting back up and keeping on. Big Show may have won but Dean was staggering with the last laugh, it was super close but Dean had known what was running through Big Show’s head and watching him go through the barricade had been pretty fucking entertaining.

“Hey, hey, hey Dean, are you alright?” Roman asked him and he couldn’t help the smile that came to his face upon seeing his brother.

“Roman why are you all like...” Dean said as he made a wiggly motion with his fingers “you know, why are you all like floaty?” he asked as he squinted to keep Roman still in his vision.

“Alright let’s get you looked at,” Roman said as he placed a hand on Dean’s shoulder and led him down the corridor as he maintained a firm grip to keep Dean steady “that was a pretty fucking awesome match man,”

“There you are,” Seth said as he slowed to a walking pace beside Roman “hey, everything okay? You look like you took a hell of a hit out there.”

Dean nodded his head “Did you see him go through the barricade? That shit was pretty funny right?” he said with an amused smirk on his face. It had been _so_ close but Dean had known what he was going to do before the man even knew.

“Gonna get him looked at, said I was all floaty or something.” Roman said.

“Looked really nasty didn’t think you was going to get up again,” Seth said as he placed a hand on Dean’s sweaty back. Dean stopped for a moment as he felt a horrid sensation in his gut as he placed a hand over his mouth. “You’re definitely going to see a doctor now.” Seth added.

“’M fine,” Dean groaned as he carried on slowly now with both Seth and Roman having firm grips on him to keep him steady. 

* * *

Seth hated the plastic chairs outside the doctor’s office in the arena because they were mildly uncomfortable to sit in and he felt like he should be pacing or something but Roman was shooting glances at him every so often which sort of put Seth on edge.

“What’s wrong with you?” Roman asked suddenly breaking the silence between them.

Seth frowned “…Nothing,” he answered unsure about what Roman was even suggesting.

Roman raised his eyebrows “Man I know you, just because we’ve not spoken in the past year doesn’t mean I don’t know you inside out still, something’s bothering you.” He said.

He bit the inside of his cheek before he sighed and leaned forward in his chair “I’ve been thinking about what you said the other day, like a lot, I just don’t know what to do. Hunter and Steph haven’t brought me and Dean up again, in fact they just carried on as if we hadn’t spoken about it at all.” He said.

Roman looked like he was deep in thought for a couple of minutes before he broke the silence again “Entertaining the idea must mean some part of you is tempted,” he said quietly.

Seth was definitely tempted by the idea of losing his title but he was always stuck on the _after_ of it, he’d made a lot of enemies as champion and most of the locker room saw him as some sort of joke “I am,” he admitted through an exhale “but then what? I’ll have nothing and no one.”

“You’ll have Dean,” Roman pointed out before chuckling lightly to himself and shaking his head “man this is so fucking messed up, I never thought I’d be talking about Dean to you after what you did.” He added after Seth looked at him questioningly.

“I never thought there was ever going to be a possibility of there being a me and Dean,” Seth said with a soft smile on his face “I never expected for you to ever look at me again let alone talk to me.”

Roman opened his mouth to say something when Paige came into view and took a seat beside Roman as she asked “How is he? It looked he wasn’t going to get up again.” 

* * *

 Dean was snoring softly beside Seth in unison with Roman who was sleeping on the single bed in the room; it was a bit like the old days when they were The Shield except for this time around it was Dean and Seth sharing the bed instead of Dean and Roman. Seth was finding it very difficult to settle his mind and actually get some sleep after Roman had given him something to think about.

He could give the WWE World Heavyweight Championship away; he _could_ lose it on purpose. He’d always dreamt of being at the _top_ and here he was at the top with _the_ title and with Dean by his side, all he’d ever dreamt of. Thing is in his dreams he was happy about it, having everything he’d always wanted and worked for.

But Seth’s not happy, no. Instead he feels on edge all the time with what Hunter and Steph have in store for him each week, he’s anxious about their obvious distrust surrounding him and he’s under pressure to not expose himself and Dean as being in a relationship to fans. It feels like _too much_ and he knows what Dean would say, he knows that Dean wouldn’t want Seth to sacrifice the title if he really wasn’t comfortable with doing so. 

Life was so much simpler in The Shield, he could count on Roman and Dean to be there and share the weight of his anxieties but now he just feels like a burden to Roman due to being Dean’s boyfriend, like Roman only puts up with him because he has to. Not because he wants to. 

* * *

 [ ** _Yeah, you can start over, you can run free, you can find other fish in the sea, you can pretend it's meant to be, but you can't stay away from me_**.]

He bumped backs with Roman as he stared down Luke Harper standing on the apron in front of him and glances to his side to see Sheamus on the apron to the left of him. “You sure about this?” Roman asked as they bumped backs once again.

“Always got your back Ro,” Dean answered as he raised his fists ready for the fight that’s about to happen “not gonna leave you.”

Dean keeps his gaze steady on Luke Harper watching for any sudden movement to indicate when to start throwing punches when he catches slight movement on Sheamus’s side of the apron and suddenly Harper, Sheamus and Wyatt are in the ring. Dean’s on Harper in seconds, punching and punching until he feels Sheamus prying him off to start punching him. Dean can faintly hear the crowd going wild.

Then it happens and Dean fucking _freezes_. Seth’s music hits and the next thing he’s aware of his Seth is on Sheamus allowing Dean to return to Harper who is kicking Roman with Wyatt. The ring is cleared of the three guys in minutes and Dean looks to Seth who looks at him like it’s just dawned on him about what’s just happened.

“What the fuck is going on Seth?” Dean asked unsure of how to carry this out, is Seth here to attack them or do they attack Seth…

“I…I…” Seth said barely making any sense over the massive reaction from the crowd.

“Get out of here,” Roman said giving Seth a look and Dean watches as Seth walks back and rolls out the ring and walks back up the ramp. 

* * *

Dean and Roman get backstage and immediately all eyes are on them and there are whispers going around about Seth. Dean feels Roman nudge him forward signalling to keep moving. They walk through the corridors to reach their locker room and Dean does his best to not think about Seth and what consequences he’ll be facing.

“I’m fucking confused Rome,” Dean sighed as he sat on the bench in their locker room “I thought we had an understanding that work was work and _we_ were you know outside of work.”

Roman shrugged his shoulders lightly “I think I have a vague idea,” he said as he sat down beside Dean and leaned his elbows on his knees “so Hunter and Steph called him into the office the other day to discuss your relationship, they had some pictures and Seth didn’t know how to tell you. Apparently they don’t mind that you two are together they were just concerned for the storyline so I told him if it really bothered him that much then he could always lose the title, he wouldn’t be on their radar then.” He explained.

Dean rubbed his temples as he processed all of the information “He should’ve said something,” he said “This could’ve been I don’t know avoided or something? Think of how much shit he’s going to be in.”   

“I don’t think he even knew what he was doing,” Roman said.

Dean closed his eyes and ran his hands down his face “Ahhhh,” Dean said “what a big mess.”

“Let’s get cleaned up and then we’ll go find him and get dinner and some drinks,” Roman said as he patted Dean on the back.

Dean looked at Roman with raised eyebrows “All three of us?” he asked.

Roman nodded his head “Yeah,” he said “all three of us and well, plus Paige obviously.” he added.

“Voluntarily sharing a room, private conversations and now openly inviting him to dinner… better be careful Rome, sounds an awful lot like you’re starting to forgive him.” Dean said smiling.

Roman rolled his eyes “He has a way of growing on you with those sad puppy dog eyes,” he said. 

* * *

 Stephanie folds her hands in her lap and Seth resisted the urge to start fidgeting when she looked at him with an unreadable expression plastered across her face for what feels like an eternity before she finally spoke“I thought we had a shared understanding about your relationship with Dean Ambrose not affecting your work,” she said before shrugging lightly and looking to Hunter for a moment “I don’t think I imagined you telling me that you two were able to maintain a professional attitude at work.”

“We are,” Seth said “but-”

“I don’t think you realise the loop you’ve thrown us into,” Hunter said.

“I do understand-” Seth said before he got interrupted again.

Stephanie pulled a face before she said “I really don’t think you do, you and Ambrose have had this feud going for what, a year now? How do we _begin_ to explain your actions?”

Seth rubbed his left temple for a moment as the sudden weight of his actions finally hit him, he still couldn’t begin to explain what had come over him. Seeing Roman and Dean surrounded and outnumbered in the ring had brought something out in Seth, they were brothers and no matter what Seth had said or done, _nothing_ changed that “I’m really sorry,” he said “I wish I could tell you _why_ I did what I did but I…  I…”

“You’ve embarrassed the company,” Hunter said flatly. Seth felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach at the man’s words.

Stephanie held her hand up to signal Hunter to be quiet as she looked intently at the floor by Seth’s feet “I have an idea,” she said “we’ll test the waters with it, but with the little Shield reunion at Payback we could possibly spin it for another reunion between you three. This is the only way I can possibly begin to explain your actions tonight.”

Seth tried to not show his glee at the thought of a reunion with Dean and Roman.

“Another stunt like this Seth and you’ll be gone,” Hunter said.

“I understand,” Seth said.

* * *

 Dean stands up immediately when their locker room door opens and Seth walked in, Roman and Paige stop their conversation leading a silence to fall upon the room.

“Are you going to kiss me or punch me?” Seth asked stepping into the room a bit more looking concerned.

“I wouldn’t object to punching you,” Paige said smiling sarcastically.

Seth nodded in acknowledgement “Always a pleasure Paige,” he said before looking at Dean and raising his eyebrows “Dean?” he asked.

Dean was torn between doing both; the last thing he wanted was Seth to be on The Authority’s bad side because of him. He shrugged “I’m leaning more towards punching you in the face if I’m honest,” he said.

Seth nodded his head “I’m really sorry about surprising you and throwing you off like that, I just saw there was three of them and only two of you…” he said.

“What did the bosses have to say?” Roman asked.

“So they were pissed,” Seth said and Dean felt his own fucking heart sink at the words, he hadn’t wanted Seth to jeopardise his job “I apologised for my actions. They were more concerned about how to spin it to the audience and Steph came up with the idea of a possible Shield reunion. Possibly at SummerSlam against Wyatt and that.” He added.

“Shut the fuck up,” Roman said.

Dean sat back down the bench as relief flooded him at hearing the news, Seth wasn’t getting fired and as far as Seth had made them aware he wasn’t getting out right punished by The Authority. “I’m leaning towards kissing you,” Dean said “still likely to punch you in the fucking face though seriously Seth, what the fuck? I don’t want you to lose your job because of us. By the sounds of it you came off pretty light but next time I don’t think you’ll be so lucky.”

“Hounds of Justice Reunion,” Paige said as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail “now that _would_ be best for business, you guys were fucking awesome! Until Seth obviously became a fucking Authority shithead.”

Dean couldn’t help the amused grin at Paige’s words “She’s not wrong,” he said “but you’re my shithead.”

“The most romantic thing to ever come out of your mouth,” Seth said smiling softly.

Roman stood up from the bench and clapped his hands together like he was rallying pre-school children “Okay let’s all just get out of here and go get something for dinner, I’m starving.” He said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for your feedback it really does make it worth it knowing you're all enjoying this fic :)


	17. we've come a long way now we're thinkin' we're lost

Dean walked out of the bathroom and into the room after just showering after their morning workout when he noticed Seth jolting before closing something on his phone and locking it at a suspiciously fast pace. Dean frowned at him “What’s up with you?” he asked amused at Seth looking like a deer caught in headlights.

“Nothing,” Seth said with a slight shrug as he got off the bed and started to attempt to make their room look clean.

“Seriously man,” Dean said as he sat on the bed and watched on as Seth busied himself around the room “you literally locked your phone as soon as I walked in the room, if I didn’t know better I’d think you were cheating on me or something.” He added jokingly.

Seth stopped what he was doing and looked at Dean with a serious expression on his face “I would never,” he said.

“I know,” Dean said “just tell me what you were doing.”

“It was nothing, stop going on.” Seth said his face slowly turning a bright shade of red.

“Oh my god, did I walk in on you checking out your internet nude selfies again?” Dean asked laughing.

Seth chucked a shoe in Dean’s direction “That happened _once_ ,” he said “and in my defence it’s not like they were bad photos… quality wise I suppose.”

Dean nodded his head with a smug grin on his face “I definitely enjoyed them,” he said “so if you weren’t checking yourself out what was you doing?” he asked determined to find out because who wouldn’t be curious.

“I was watching your film trailer,” Seth said.

Dean rolled his eyes “Again?” he asked “you’ve watched that like a hundred times already.”

Seth continued to pack their stuff away as he shrugged lightly “I can’t help it,” he said “you look amazing.”

Now Dean could feel his face heating up from the compliment “You’re being subjective,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Who can blame me?” Seth asked with a grin on his face.

* * *

Seth stood in the middle of the ring listening to the crowd booing him mixed in with _‘Justin Bieber’_ chants. Seth still hadn’t kicked Dean’s ass because of that nickname and now whenever he was in the ring he was met with that chant. He gripped the microphone in his hand before bringing up so he could start the promo which would ultimately reunite The Shield.

“Sheamus as you all know is _Mr Money in the Bank_ ,” Seth said and grinned at the set of boo’s that came at his statement “That means he has a contract he can cash in _whenever_ he wants for _my_ WWE World Heavyweight Championship. He tried to cash in and _failed_ because of Orton RKO’ing him the other night.” He nodded his head slightly at the new chants of ‘RKO’ from the crowd “Sheamus, I’m going to teach you that when you _succeed_ in cashing in that you’ll _fail_ in taking _my title,_ I’m going to _show_ you what will happen to you at SummerSlam when _The Shield_ reunites to face you, Wyatt and Harper.” He added and took the mic away from his mouth to listen to the mixed reactions from the crowd.

He’s putting the mic back to his mouth when Sheamus’s music hits and Sheamus appears with a mic in one hand and his gold Money In The Bank briefcase in the other hand. He’s got a stupid grin on his face.

“Seth, Seth, Seth…” He said in his Irish accent “I just _wish_ I could believe you, I do. Reigns and Ambrose reuniting with the guy who stabbed them in the back and left them vulnerable? I don’t think so. What I do think is at SummerSlam I’m going to be the _new_ WWE World Heavyweight-” He carried on when he was abruptly cut off by none other than Roman and Dean coming out to attack him.

When Sheamus is in the ring with both Dean and Roman holding him like they’re offering him to Seth, he makes an on the spot decision. He motions for them to hold him down as he performs his finishing move. A curb stomp driving Sheamus’s face into the floor of the ring.

Roman then picks up the mic as he gestured to Dean to take a few paces away from Seth. They end up standing on opposite sides of the ring with Sheamus laid out in the middle.

“This doesn’t mean we trust you,” Roman spoke into the mic “but you are _still_ our little brother and we’ve all had beef with Sheamus here since he became Mr Money in the Bank, so at SummerSlam it’s going to be _family_ versus _family_ plus Sheamus and at SummerSlam Wyatt… we’re going to _war_ and you can believe that.” He finished by dropping the mic onto the floor of the ring and sticking his fist out just like they did.

Seth watched as Dean eyed it before shrugging and mouthing ‘fuck it’ before adding his fist beside Roman’s. Now they both look at Seth as the sound of the crowd going fucking mental washes over them. Seth nods his head before shrugging and moving across the ring to stand beside Dean and join his fist, just like they did when they were The Shield. 

* * *

 Seth supposed it was too much to just assume that Hunter and Stephanie would let him off lightly with the stunt he pulled the other night. He can tell right away that Roman and Dean know something is definitely up when he meets Dean in their shared locker room.

“What’s up with your face?” Dean asked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Seth huffed out a sigh as he moved to sit down on the bench “Hunter and Steph have just announced another match that’s going to happen at SummerSlam, not only am I in a six man tag with you two _but_ after that match I am then defending my title against John Cena and the winner gets _both_ championships.” he explained.

“You really pissed them off huh,” Roman commented.

Seth nodded his head lightly “I really did,” he said.

Dean rubbed his temples as he frowned “I thought it was fifty fifty with Cena making it to SummerSlam what with his nose and that…” he said.

“If Cena isn’t cleared then they’ll probably put you up against Orton at SummerSlam,” Roman said “since he won the triple threat and I’m being honest here but it looked like he would have won if it hadn’t of been for Sheamus.”

Seth looked down at the title around his waist before he nodded at Roman “I think if Sheamus hadn’t of intervened then there would have been a new champion tonight,” he admitted.

“I guess it was foolish to believe Steph and Hunter didn’t have an ulterior motive when it came to reuniting us,” Dean said softly as he finished packing his stuff into his gym bag.

Roman chuckled “Yeah,”

“I think it was a great idea,” Seth said “I mean we get to be together again and they could take this reunion in so many different directions and look at how fucking mental the crowd went when we beat down on Sheamus.”

“Next time we should do the power bomb, I can just imagine JBL on commentary now like ‘ _OH MY GOD VINTAGE SHIELD, THEY JUST POWER BOMBED SHEAMUS_ ’ it would send the crowd nuts,” Dean said doing his best impression of JBL shouting down the headset causing Seth to smile “I was going to add through the announce table at the end of that but wasn’t sure if that was going too far.” He added.

Seth smiled at Dean “No, I think it would have added to the story you were telling.” he said.

* * *

 Dean walked behind Seth and Roman as they walked through the parking lot when he noticed Brie Bella leaning against a car and looking down at her phone.

“Hey, how’s Bryan doing?” He asked as he stopped in front of her not noticing Seth and Roman still walking on without him.

Brie looked up from her phone “He’s doing really well thanks for asking,” She said smiling before she tilted her head to the side “so a Shield reunion huh.”

“Good to hear,” Dean said nodding his head lightly “yeah, The Shield is back.”

“Are you gonna go back to wearing like the all black combat gear, you guys looked good in that.” Brie said.

Dean shrugged “I don’t know, I’ve gotten used to wrestling in jeans and someone’s told me jeans make my ass look great.” He said.

“No comment,” Brie laughed at the same time as Roman calling “Dean,”

Dean looked to see Seth and Roman waiting for him up ahead so he nodded in their direction before saying bye to Brie and heading back towards his friends. When he reached them Seth asked “What were you two talking about?”

“I asked how Bryan was,” Dean said “and she wouldn’t comment on how good my ass looks in these jeans when I wrestle.”

Seth nodded his head “Yeah, it looks pretty amazing.” He said grinning when Roman pulled a disgusted face.

“Oh yeah, how’s he doing?” Roman asked as they all continued walking through the lot to get to their rental.

“Good apparently,” Dean answered before adding “hey remember when Brie like shut down my bachelor party plans for him? I don’t get why; I mean I had a pretty fun night planned.”

Seth raised his eyebrows as he said “You literally wanted to get wasted and go to a strip club,”

“Yeah,” Dean said “Fun!”

They got to their rental and Roman opened the car for Seth and Dean to get into the backseat and leave their luggage by the boot for Roman to pack away “Really guys,” he muttered to himself before going ahead and putting their luggage away for them anyway.

“Uh no Dean, I don’t like to think of strippers being all over you.” Seth said.

Dean pulled a face as he put his seatbelt on “If anything I probably would’ve joined in,” he said.

“I don’t think Bryan would’ve appreciated you stripping and giving him a lap dance,” Roman said before closing the boot and walking to the driver’s side and getting in.

Dean laughed at the sour look on Seth’s face “Who said anything about Bryan being on the receiving end of that?” he asked amused before adding “If I remember correctly Rome you’ve been a recipient of that.”

“What!?” Seth asked looking between the two.

“Oh my god,” Roman groaned as he started the car “we swore to never speak of that again.”

“When the fuck did this happen?” Seth asked.

“Like September last year,” Dean said.

“Shut up,” Roman said “just shut up Dean and we’ll never speak of this again.”

* * *

Dean’s close to closing his eyes and falling asleep as he watched the road signs go by in a blur when Seth spoke up breaking the silence in the car “Are we seriously not going to talk about that bombshell from earlier?” he asked.

“Yep,” Roman answered quickly.

Dean rolled his eyes as he turned his head to look at Seth “Chill, it lasted like a minute and then I think… Ziggler may have made me go to my room or something.” He said before he yawned.

“Yeah Ziggler was like _Dean they have a hidden stash of booze in your room, let’s go find it_ and like an idiot you fell for it.” Roman said laughing.

Dean frowned feeling a bit offended “I wouldn’t have followed him if I was _sober_ ,” he said.

Dean felt Seth connect their hands and squeeze lightly “I love you,” he said “but no more drunken stripping, lap dancing or dancing on bars. That last one is for your own safety.” He added. 

Dean grinned teasingly “I mean I _can’t_ promise to not do those things, once I’ve had a few too many it just happens… it’s like  _my_ version of Brie Mode.” He said.

“You try convincing a drunk Dean that dancing on a bar intoxicated is a bad idea,” Roman said from the driver’s seat “he literally put his finger over my lips and told me I was just jealous because I couldn’t pull it off like he could.” Dean felt his face heat up at what Roman had said because he could not recall a time that he had _ever_ done that.

“I don’t remember you pulling this sort of stuff when we were The Shield,” Seth said laughing.

“Oh please,” Dean said “you would’ve fucking loved it.”

“I’m not denying that,” Seth said into Dean’s ear.

“Anyway,” Roman said loudly interrupting Dean from responding “we’re almost at the hotel so I told Paige we’d meet her later on for dinner.”

Dean groaned “But I wanted to sleep,”

“No you have to be there Dean,” Seth said “I have a feeling if you’re not there then she’ll probably inflict some sort of physical harm on me.”

Roman chuckled “Dude if I can restrain myself from superman punching you, I’m sure Paige can restrain herself as well.”

“Protect yourself,” Dean sighed “but fine. What are you gonna do tomorrow? I said we were all going to train together.”

“Oh, well… I guess I’ll tag along.” Seth said.

“Oh yeah,” Roman said “you wanted her to put you in the Paige Tap Out.”

“Why would you even…” Seth said looking at Dean like he’s unstable or something.

“Why not?” Dean asked grinning at Seth.


	18. i'm burning like a fire gone wild on saturday

Dean is definitely _not_ a John Cena fan, he never has been nor will he _ever_ be. One thing Dean can’t deny is how much of an arrogant asshole Seth is while the cameras are rolling and he’s so good at it that Dean forgets that it isn’t really Seth; it’s just something he plays up to for Stephanie and Hunter. So when Seth returned to their locker room after his contract signing with Cena, Dean isn’t too sure he should be around because that promo Cena did was fucking _amazing_ , he practically tore Seth a new one.

“Fucking Cena, fuck, fuck, fuck.” Seth said as he walked into the locker room.

Dean looked at Roman who returned the look with a half grin and Dean can’t hold it in, he really can’t. “I’m going to have to go…” Dean said as he grabbed his bottle of water off the bench and headed towards the door.

“What?” Seth asked “Why?”

Dean reached the door and turned to look at his boyfriend “I’m really sorry,” he said trying to keep the amused grin at bay “But Cena’s promo fucking executed you and I need to have a couple minutes to myself to get it out of my system so I can be supporting and shit.”

“Oh,” Seth said looking mildly surprised by Dean’s statement.

Dean tried to look apologetic before he slipped out of the locker room; he knew Seth was under immense pressure right now with having _two_ matches at SummerSlam and one of them being a title match which was incredibly important. He didn’t want to be stressing Seth out more just because Cena cut an amazing promo for once that had Dean practically close to laughing his head off. 

* * *

 Seth was just finishing getting changed out of his ring gear and into some casual clothes when Roman cleared his throat before he said “Don’t be like offended but Cena really did do a good job on his promo,”

Seth nodded his head “I guess he’s had a few weeks to perfect it,” he muttered.

“Dean didn’t mean any harm if that’s what’s bothering you,” Roman said “he doesn’t want to add to your stress.”

Seth sighed before turning and sitting on the bench feeling slightly better now he was in some loose fitting clothes “I don’t mind Dean excusing himself to get it out of his system, I’m kinda relieved because it means he won’t be repeating the whole promo to me later in bed.” He said.

Roman raised his eyebrows in surprise “He does that?” he asked laughing lightly.

“Sometimes,” Seth said as he nodded his head.

“Man,” Roman sighed shaking his head.

Seth smiled and looked down at the carpeted floor for a moment “I’ll admit being stressed about SummerSlam has got me down a bit but there’s something else… we’re always on the road and when we get time to be off we’re kinda scattered so I got an extra key cut for Dean and I was just wondering… do you think Dean will freak out if I ask him to move in with me?” he asked.

“Moving in?” Roman asked and Seth nodded his head “I mean it’s kinda like you were together without the benefits when we were in The Shield so I shouldn’t see why Dean would freak out.” He added.

Seth smiled at Roman thankful for his insightful; he appreciated it _more_ now because after everything Roman was still looking out for him… sort of “Thanks,” Seth said. 

* * *

 Dean studied Seth as he was driving them out to dinner, the street lights occasionally casting an orange glow to fall upon Seth’s face “Did you do something to offend Roman or something?” Dean asked.

Seth looked offended by the question “What makes you ask that?” he asked.

“He was weird about going out for dinner,” Dean said.

Seth took a right turn before he said “Well the reason he didn’t come out for dinner is because it would be a bit weird for him to tag along to our first date,”

Dean frowned “First date?” he asked “Aren’t you meant to actually _ask_ me out before actually going out? And I ain’t eating any fancy healthy shit.”  

“Dean Ambrose, will you go out on a date with me?” Seth asked as he pulled up outside of Dean’s favourite fast food restaurant – McDonald’s. 

Dean managed to hold back the eye roll at Seth’s cheesiness “Since we’re already here,” he said “and you have impeccable taste, so why not.”

“I’m your boyfriend and your response to me asking you out on our first date is _why not_ ,” Seth said as he cut the engine and unfastened his seat belt.

Dean leaned over a placed a kiss on Seth’s lips before he opened the passenger door “Don’t get any funny idea’s, I don’t put out on the first date.” He said jokingly. 

* * *

 Surprisingly McDonald’s wasn’t as busy as Dean and Seth had anticipated it to be so they were served quite quickly and managed to find a table that didn’t make them overly obvious to any fans that might be in the place.

“You must really be out to impress,” Dean commented before he took a sip of his coke.

“What makes you say that?” Seth asked.

Dean raised his eyebrows and motioned around at their surroundings “You willingly brought me to McDonald’s and you’re actually eating a burger,” he pointed out before starting to eat his fries.

“I know you’re not a fan of my ‘ _fancy healthy food_ ’ so I figured McDonald’s was a good bet for a good first date,” Seth replied as he unwrapped the burger.

They ate in silence for a couple of minutes and when Dean looked up he caught Seth looking at him with a soft and content smile on his lips making Dean feel like it was suddenly getting warm in here, he smiled back to Seth.

“So…” Seth said as he moved to the edge of his seat causing him to lean forward over the table making their faces closer to each other “what’s your favourite colour?” he asked grinning.

Dean closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head at the ridiculous question before opening his eyes again and answering “Black,” with a quirk of his lips before adding “just like your soul.” He felt Seth kick his leg quite hard causing Dean to frown and say “Ow!”

“Jackass,” Seth said “seriously though?” he asked.

“I don’t have a favourite colour,” Dean admitted with a light shrug of his shoulders.

“Mine’s blue,” Seth said “like your eyes.”

Dean made gagging noises “You smooth mother fucker, that’s fucking cheesy.” He said as Seth laughed. 

Dean watched as Seth looked down at their half-empty tray of food and started to fidget in his seat slightly before he resumed looking at Dean with a hint of worry in his face. Dean considered it odd for Seth to have a hint of worry in his expression.

“Everything’s gonna be fine at SummerSlam, Rome and I have your back. We’ll stand by the ring during your title defence if you’d like, just like the old days.” Dean said as he moved his hand to lace their fingers together. He figured it must be SummerSlam that was weighing heavily on his mind.

Seth cast his smile downwards as he squeezed Dean’s hand “Thanks but I don’t want to talk about work right now,” he said “I would rather talk about us.” 

Dean tilted his head to the side slightly “Sounds good,” he said.

Seth nodded his head slightly before looking at Dean again “Okay so, we've been together awhile. We’re always on the road together so we practically _share_ a place together already and when we do get time off together we’re in separate places so… Dean, how would you feel about moving in with me?” he asked. Dean could hear the anxiousness in his voice as he spoke.

Dean sat back in his seat “Gee,” he said exhaling softly “I mean it’s a bit fast for a first date right?” he added jokingly and Seth’s expression could only be described as looking crushed at Dean’s words. Dean felt awful “I didn’t mean to make a joke about it sorry, you’re trying to be serious and I'm teasing you, oh my god, okay, yes I would like to move in with you.” He said tripping over his words. 

“Really?” Seth asked his face lighting up.

Dean nodded “Really,” he said smiling. 

* * *

 They’re quiet to close the hotel room door when they return as the room is pitch black which must mean Roman’s gone to bed but as soon as the door is shut Seth is pushing Dean against it and attacking his lips with his own.

“We can’t do this here,” Dean breathed “we’ll scare poor Roman.”

Seth huffed out a chuckle “It’s not like we’ve not done it when he’s been asleep,” he said.

“Oh my god you guys I did _not_ need to hear that,” Roman said causing both men to jump slightly. 


	19. so don't bow down when you could be rising up

“ _It just makes you wonder how The Shield are going to come together on Sunday when Seth Rollins isn’t included in any matches alongside Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose leading into SummerSlam,_ ”

“ _I’m wondering if this could possibly lead to a new, improved and stronger than ever Shield._ ” 

* * *

 Dean has never been a fan of fancy clubs or bars, they just weren’t his scene. This was something he had in common with Roman, they both preferred to drink in small pubs that played some decent music instead of whatever was currently in the charts. He just felt like there was a friendlier atmosphere in small pubs and the people were easier to talk to.

“Thanks man,” Dean said as he nodded his head in thanks to the bartender before he picked up two cold glasses of beer. That’s how Roman liked his beer – _cold_. Doesn’t matter _what_ beer it is it just has to be cold. He headed towards the table Roman had claimed as theirs and placed the beer in front of Roman.

“What’s all this for?” Roman asked before he took a sip of his drink and let out an appreciative sigh before adding “not that I’m complaining or anything, just curious.”

Dean gazed down at the wooden table that looked like it had seen better days, he wasn’t too great with expressing himself without feeling embarrassed “You’ve always been by my side, no matter what and we’ve had some differences in the past but you are practically family to me now. I just wanted to say thank you and that I love you and that I couldn’t have a better brother or best friend.” He said.

He felt Roman wrap an arm around his shoulders and bring him in for a hug as he said “I thought you were meant to save the love declarations for your boyfriend,” chuckling he added “I love you too man.” And then he released Dean from the hug. 

The bartender then came over with the six shots Dean had previously ordered while at the bar.

“Seth’s gonna kill us if we miss the training session tomorrow,” Roman commented while he pushed one shot towards Dean and picked up a shot for himself.

Dean quirked an eyebrow at his best friend “It’s a beer and a few shots, a few drinks aren’t going to hurt anyone.” He said before clinking the shot glass with Roman’s and then downing it all in one before grimacing at the burn. 

“Oh what the hell,” Roman said as he pushed another one towards Dean “we’ve not had a night out like this in a while, we’ve earnt a couple of drinks, right?”

Dean grinned “Right,” he said before throwing the shot back in unison with Roman. 

The thing is when they go out for a drink it never is _just_ one beer, there’s always got to be another just to drag the night out and mixing that with shots just means one thing – drinking like there is no tomorrow because once the drink starts flowing, just like Dean, Roman can’t resist getting up and having a dance. But when you add Paige to the mix it just means you have an unstoppable trio. Dean can’t pinpoint when Paige joined them or who called her but she was here and they were doing shots and dancing and Dean was _really_ into the song playing.  

“Let’s say hello to Seth!” Dean slurred as he took his phone out his pocket and fumbled when putting the passcode in. 

* * *

 Seth’s not exactly sure what had woken him to begin with so he throws his arm over Dean and tries to go back to sleep when it registers that Dean isn’t there beside him, in fact Roman and Dean were both still out. He frowned to himself slightly as he made a grab for his phone that was lying on the bedside table and he sees its _01:33am_ and Dean and Roman are _still_ out drinking. That’s when he notices the snapchat notification he has.

_A new snapchat from DeanAmbrose_.

Seth opened the app and immediately regrets not turning the volume down beforehand because when he presses down on the snapchat it turns out to be a video. A video of Dean, Roman and Paige in a bar, all three looking and sounding shitfaced drunk as they sing along to the song that is playing in the background.

“ _Throw on your brake lights, we're in the city of wonder, ain't gonna play nice, watch out, you might just go under, better think twice_.” The three of them kind of slur along to the lyrics before Dean shouts “Love you,” while Roman and Paige are shouting “Hiiiiii Sethhhhh!” 

* * *

 At first Dean is aware that he is lying beside someone but it quickly becomes clear that it isn’t Seth because they had a smaller frame. He was tempted to see who it is on the bed when they grumble “You two need to stop fucking snuggling into me,”

“Fuck,” Dean mumbled into the small space between the pillow and Paige’s shoulder “whose room are we in?” he asked as he tried to muster up the energy to move.

“Dunno,” Roman groaned from the other side of the bed.

Dean still hadn’t managed to muster much energy to move away when the click of the hotel door caught his attention and he heard the unmistakeable sound of Seth laughing “You three should see yourselves right now,”

“What the fuck,” Paige said “how did we even get here?”

“You guys came in at like four this morning and when I got up to get you all some water I come back to you all just kind of snuggled on the bed,” Seth said sounding amused as Dean heard Seth place something on the bedside table before he sat beside Dean and the smell of coffee greeted him.

“Did you get coffee?” Dean asked.

“Yeah,” Seth said as he rubbed circles on Dean’s back “and a tea for Paige.”

Paige let out a groan as she asked “How did you _know_?”

“It was an educated guess,” Seth said softly. 

* * *

 “Take _that_ ,” Dean said as he furiously tapped on his phone screen.

“Fuck,” Paige muttered.

“What are they doing?” Roman asked as he walked out the bathroom after taking a shower to wash last night away.

Seth looked up from the book he was reading “Immortals,” he answered “they’ve been like that for the past twenty minutes.”

Roman pulled a face before flopping back on the bed and letting out a sigh “I’m gonna nap,” he said as he closed his eyes.

“Good luck trying to get any sleep with those two around,” Seth said grinning down at his book as he turned the page. It was ridiculous being this happy in a moment like this. They were hardly doing anything, just lazing around while Dean, Roman and Paige got over their hangovers. 

* * *

 

There were bodies everywhere and the crowd was going mental and Dean loved every single second of it.

one…two…three

He’d pinned Luke Harper after hitting dirty deeds, SummerSlam was only a couple of nights away and it felt like they had made a statement about what was going to happen to their opponents on Sunday, _watch your backs_. He was joined in the ring by Roman slapping him on the back and Cesaro and Randy as they watched their SummerSlam opponents retreat up the ramp. 

* * *

 

“I’m included in this feud now so why the fuck am I _not_ included in any matches leading up to it?” Seth asked arms crossed tightly across his chest and a scowl firmly in place. He didn’t understand how he could start to win over the audiences trust when he wasn’t being included in any of the matches leading up to SummerSlam “Why wasn’t I included tonight?”

Hunter looked at Seth with the same unreadable expression plastered over his face ever since the contract signing with Cena “It didn’t fit right; it would’ve hardly been fair for your team to have an extra person.”

“Since when did _you_ ever do fair? You could’ve stuck Cena on the other side to even the numbers out!” Seth said. 

“Careful Seth,” Hunter said with a steady voice. 

Seth was becoming increasingly annoyed with the way Hunter and Steph were being around him, especially with the way they were treating The Shield reunion, how was he meant to not only prove to the audience but to Dean and Roman that he was not going to turn his back on them again? He’s got too much to lose now. He knows that now.

He sighed “I just don’t _get_ it,”

“We can’t have you three suddenly appearing with all differences aside, especially you. We have to protect our image Seth, SummerSlam is only going to be a temporary reunion and then you’re going to show Ambrose and Reigns how foolish they are to work beside you so easily again.” Hunter said as he leaned back in his chair, smirk on his lips and hands joined together in his lap. He resembled an evil mastermind in that moment.

Seth felt sick to his stomach. Of course things couldn’t work out so smoothly. Of course his punishment didn’t end at two matches at SummerSlam. Of fucking course. “No,” Seth said “I’m not… I’m not going to _do_ that. If I do that then Roman and Dean will _never_ trust me again and I’ll lose Dean for good. I’m not doing it.”

His smirk fell immediately at Seth’s words.

“Seth,” Hunter said “You go down this road and that’s it, not only will you lose _my_ protection but The Authority _will_ be your enemy. You do this and you can kiss that title goodbye.”

Seth looked at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship title slung over his shoulder for a moment before looking Hunter in the eye and shrugging “That requires Cena beating me at SummerSlam, which he _isn’t_ going to do. After SummerSlam not only will I be the WWE World Heavyweight Champion and the United States Champion but I’ll also be a _dedicated_ member of The Shield.” He said before turning and walking out the office, heart thumping against his chest. 


	20. keep your eyes on me

“Ready?” Seth asked softly as they stood ready to make their individual entrances.

Dean nodded his head “Ready,” he said moments before Seth’s entrance music hit and he watched as Seth walked out to a mix of boos and cheers. Dean rolled his shoulders back a couple of times and jumped on the spot to warm himself up until he heard his entrance music hit and he was walking out to find Seth had waited for him, the crowd were chanting and cheering.

“You waited?” Dean asked as they walked down the ramp together to stand near the barricade so they could meet Roman before entering the ring together as a team once again.

Seth inclined his head forward slightly as he said “Of course I did,”

Roman’s music hit and he made his way through the crowd to meet Dean and Seth who had positioned themselves against the barricade. Seth had a grin on his face as he said “Likes to be different doesn’t he,”

Dean nodded his head and waited until Roman was climbing over the barricade to reply “Rome’s just weird,”

Roman stood in the middle of them for a moment looking to Dean and then to Seth before slinging an arm over both their shoulders and smiling approvingly “It’s good to be back together,” he said as they filed into the ring one by one. 

- 

The match itself is a bit of a blur to Dean really; he’s in the moment as he runs along the three announce tables and takes down _both_ Wyatt and Sheamus. Seth’s pulling him to his feet and helping him back into the ring. Dean can’t pinpoint exactly _who_ stuns him but it’s enough to give the other team the upper hand in the match for a couple of minutes until he tags in Seth. 

He sort of just rests on the floor and getting his wits about him when Roman pats him on the shoulder with a look of concern on his face, Dean shakes his head and gives a thumb up to signal he’s okay. When he eventually gets back up on the apron to stand beside Seth, Roman tags him back in and goes to lift Wyatt on his shoulders. Dean likes the way Roman thinks. He makes sure to bring the elbow down extra hard because this fucker had been tormenting his best friend for weeks. 

Harper’s in the ring and Dean’s on his feet and Roman’s c _alling_ for it and the crowd are going mental at the triple power bomb, Seth’s rolling Harper out the ring and Roman’s getting back on the apron. Dean’s on his feet and before he can comprehend it, he’s being bent backwards by Wyatt. Fighting out of Sister Abigail, Dean chucks in a kick to the gut and dirty deeds before tagging Roman in.

His best friend deserves to get the pinfall after the shit Wyatt had put him through. Seth and Dean are both practically jumping up and down on the ropes firing Roman up as he stands in their corner preparing for a spear to Wyatt. 

Watching Sheamus, Luke Harper and Bray Wyatt walk up the ramp with obvious defeat on their faces was _definitely_ worth everything they’d put their bodies through.

* * *

 

It’s a bit of a dream really as he gets backstage and he’s met with Dean practically jumping on him, his arms wrapping around his neck as Roman grabs him by the shoulders and shakes him in their celebration. He’s got both the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE United States Championship. Dean’s telling him how proud he is and Roman’s grinning at him and it’s _a bit of a dream really_. He’s got two championships, he’d made _history_ and he was sharing this victory with his brothers.

He’d gotten so used to the “Good job boss,” from J&J that he’d almost forgotten how loud and full on Dean and Roman could be after a win and his eyes were stinging with tears as the realisation at how much he’d truly missed them and how fucking _lucky_ he was hit him simultaneously and he was overwhelmed with how emotional he felt.

“Hey, you were phenomenal tonight.” Roman said as he patted Seth on the back.

Dean nodded his head with a big smile on his face and eyes shining “Amazing,” he said before he wrinkled up his nose and gestured towards Seth’s body “I have one complaint and that is your ring gear… it is gross.”

“Shut the fuck up Dean,” Seth breathed before kissing him. 

And Dean showed him how proud he was that night. 

* * *

 

Dean’s sort of aware of officials surrounding him, asking him stuff he couldn’t give two shits about as he waves them off and struggles to move to get to Roman who appeared to still be unconscious.

“Roman,” Dean said as he placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder and tried to shake him lightly.

“Dean-” An official said but Dean tuned him out as he moved to a sitting position beside Roman and stared at the official’s black shoes as he tried to get Dean’s attention by kneeling in front of him and continuing to talk.

What the fuck had just happened? 

Dean moved his gaze to what was going on in the ring and wondered what Seth was doing and where was he? 

“…Dean… Dean, you okay?” Roman mumbled into the ring floor. 

* * *

 

They clearly got their asses handed to them as they watched the footage back and Dean was feeling a lot better after some painkillers and some water, they’d been cleared by the doctor and were packing their things in their locker room when Seth came right in and his hands were on Dean’s face within seconds “I didn’t know, oh my god, I was with Hunter, are you okay?” he asked all in one breath.

“We survived,” Dean huffed slightly annoyed by Wyatt’s tactics. 

Seth held on to Dean’s face for a moment longer before letting go and sitting on the bench opposite Roman as he ran a hand through his hair “I don’t think it was an accident Hunter suddenly needed to ‘ _discuss_ ’ matters with me when you two were out there without back up,” he said before sighing.

“Did you see that guy?” Roman asked “You’ll have ended up like Dean and I had you been there.” He added.

“This is all my fault you guys,” Seth sighed “I’m so sorry.”

 Dean frowned as he zipped up his gym bag “I don’t suppose you individually picked him out for Wyatt and Harper did you,” he said and then sat on the bench beside Seth “I don’t see how any of this is related to you.” He added softly.

“Hunter wanted me to turn on you guys again at SummerSlam and I said no,” Seth explained “he more or less implied that if I stayed apart of The Shield reunion then he’d find a way for me to lose my title and I may have pissed him off by saying that would require Cena beating me. I refused to let you guys down again and he’s obviously behind Wyatt and Harper recruiting that guy.” He more or less summarised the important parts. 

Dean laughed “Fuck, should’ve guessed there was an ulterior motive.”

Roman tilted his head to the side slightly “SummerSlam would’ve been a good way for you to ‘ _lose your title_ ’ without raising suspicion, why didn’t you?” he asked softly “Not that we’re not proud of you cause we are, it’s just I didn’t think you wanted to be champ.”

Seth shrugged lightly “It was Cena,” he said “I mean c’mon if it had been _anyone_ else then I would’ve considered it… and I kind of like the titles not being with The Authority but with The Shield, it pisses Hunter and Steph off to no end.”

Roman and Dean chuckled in unison.

“Fair enough,” Roman said. 

Seth smiled before turning to Dean “So you all packed yet?” he asked.

“If by packed you mean ready to leave the arena and get some food then yeah,” Dean said with a grin “but if you meant is my apartment all packed and ready to be hauled into your place then nope, I’ve not had the time.” He added.

“Actually,” Seth said with a grin “I was thinking we could start fresh, go out and look at places and pick one we both like so it’ll be _ours_.”

Dean nodded his head; he liked the sound of that. “Yeah I like the sound of that,” he said before looking at Roman “how about we look at places near Roman? We can bug him on our days off.” He suggested.

Roman opened his mouth already looking opposed to the idea “I _refuse_ to be the one who has to haul your drunken asses home every time the two of you decide you want to head out.” He said.

Seth pulled a face “That is pretty rich considering _I_ was the one who was practically taking care of you two plus Paige when you decided to get shitfaced drunk a couple nights before SummerSlam.” He shot back.

“To be fair it didn’t really affect our performance though,” Dean said “we still won.”

“Not the point,” Seth said.

Roman stood up and pointed at Dean “That was a very _valid_ point,” he said and Seth huffed when Dean and Roman high-fived each other. 

* * *

 

Seth exited the bathroom to find Dean lying in bed with the laptop propped on his stomach as he scrolled down a website occasionally muttering something to himself as he pulled a few faces.

“What you looking at?” Seth asked as he placed the towel he’d used for his hair back in the bathroom.

“Places,” Dean answered slowly and Seth knew that he didn’t have Dean’s full attention at all.

Lying beside him Seth placed a finger on a house and said “That’s nice,” he commented.

“I thought so too,” Dean said “It’s not too flashy and has enough bedrooms and bathrooms for us to have guests over,” 

Seth raised his eyebrows “And who is going to be cleaning the two bathrooms and three bedrooms?” he asked as he poked Dean in the ribs lightly knowing that cleaning wasn’t one of Dean’s favourite things to do.

“You,” Dean said as he turned his head to flash Seth a teasing grin “How about I clean the downstairs and you can clean the upstairs, deal?”

“Deal,” Seth said figuring he wasn’t going to get a much better deal out of Dean in regards to cleaning.

“Sorted,” Dean said as he clicked on the house and letting out an exhale “It’ll be big enough to keep my mom occupied with peeping in drawers and cupboards for ages,” he added.

Seth chuckled lightly “Sounds perfect,” he said.

“And we have enough garden space for sheep, pigs, horses, ducks and dogs and-” Dean said starting to get carried away when Seth interrupted him.

“I’ve told you _no_ to sheep, pigs and horses. We’re not gonna be running a farm.” Seth said amused because one thing people rarely got to know about Dean is how much of an animal lover he really is.

Dean raised his eyebrows as if to say ‘challenge accepted’ “I didn’t hear you saying no to ducks and dogs,” he said.

“Well have you seen how cute Indian Runner Ducklings are?” Seth asked smiling softly because he knew Dean was very aware because Dean was the one who kept messaging him picture after picture until Seth agreed that they were indeed cute.

“I know right!” Dean said.

Seth couldn’t help the smile, he really couldn’t. It was so nice to see Dean taking moving in together as a serious step in their relationship and actually putting in his thoughts and feelings into the matter. 

 


	21. just imagine us

Seth settled on _their_ couch and sighed happily, it hadn’t taken as long as he had previously thought it would to get a new place and decorate it to their taste but this sort of stuff didn’t take too long when they had friends like Paige and Roman lending a helping hand.

“I still can’t believe you told Fandango that there was a house warming party at some random address that wasn’t even in _this_ state,” Seth said huffing out a breathy laugh at the memory.

Dean barely looked up from his phone as he replied “Fandango is a shady character,” he said “he gives me the creeps.”

“So you’d happily face Lesnar or Undertaker,” Seth said “but when it comes to Fandango _he’s_ the one that creeps you out?” he asked in disbelief.

Dean nodded his head as he narrowed his eyes slightly in concentration “He hit on me once,” he said “it was awkward for the both of us.”

Seth frowned and immediately decided that he too did not like Fandango “Yeah, okay, he deserves to be made a fool out of.” He said softly.

“I know,” Dean said before he locked his phone and looked at Seth properly “I mean could you imagine us together? He’d be more high maintenance than you.” He added with a teasing grin.

Seth punched Dean in the thigh “Asshole,” he said.  

-

Seth’s looking around their living room and can’t help the happy sigh that escapes his lips, it took a long time to get where they are and Seth holds his hands up for being fully responsible for that but they were finally where he’d wanted to be. After he’d turned his back on Dean and Roman he’d never dreamed he’d be standing _here_ in his and Dean’s own place.

Dean walked into the living room with something in his hands and a big grin on his face “Now we have the space…” he said trailing off.

“No random farm animals!” Seth said trying to sound serious but he was overwhelmingly happy that he could burst into laughter at any second at how well everything had turned out.

Dean pouted for a second “How about some ducks and some dogs,” he said “and then I’ll settle for visiting the other animals at the zoo or something.”

Seth considered it for a moment before nodding his head “Okay,” he said.

Dean broke out into a smile “Okay,” he said before he tilted his head to the side “I don’t suppose you would have ever considered buying an elephant?” he asked.

“No,” Seth said flatly as he frowned “How would we even go about… you know what I don’t want to know.”

“You’re right,” Dean said “we definitely don’t have the garden space.”

Seth looked at Dean trying to work out if he was serious or not for a moment before shaking his head and placing a kiss on his lips “Thank you,” he said.

Dean looked confused “For what?” he asked sounding confused as well.

“For this,” he said as he gestured around their new home “for giving me a chance to prove myself,” he added before placing another kiss on his lips “for helping Paige and Roman see I wasn’t a total dickhead.”

“Oh you can still be a dickhead,” Dean laughed “but you don’t have to thank me for anything. You did this all by yourself.”

Seth shook his head lightly “No,” he said before placing a hand on Dean’s chest “none of this would have been possible if you hadn’t of been willing to let me in again.” 

* * *

 

Dean and Roman are near the curtain ready for their match against the Wyatt’s and their new guy as Dean jumps up and down on the spot and Roman’s glancing around.

“No Seth?” he asked.

Dean shook his head “He’s got a crazy schedule at the moment so we’ve barely seen each other,” he said “He’s a bit annoyed that our matches are scheduled for when he’s busy but I told him it comes with the territory of being a champion and we understand.”

Roman nodded his head “I think he doesn’t like to be left out because it means we’re not being The Shield,” he said.

“I’ve told him we understand he has other priorities,” Dean shrugged “it’s just like when we had a tag team match or one of us is injured… in this case he’s just busy.” He said.

Roman rolled his shoulders as he prepared for their entrance “And how are you two taking not being together all the time?” he asked softly.

Dean pulled a face “It’s not a bother,” he said “sure I miss him but we facetime at least once a day and if we’re lucky he comes by the hotel room for a bit. I’m not going to whine about not seeing him because I know he loves what he is doing.”

Roman smiled gently at him as their entrance music hits “That’s a pretty good attitude to have about all of this,” he said before they make their way down the ramp which Roman still can’t fully get behind. 

-

It’s probably one of their best matches together by far; they’re so in tune with each other that it’s easy to know what Roman’s thinking exactly when he thinks it. The crowd is electric and it only sets to fuel both Roman and Dean on and picking up a well-earned victory. Bray Wyatt’s looking a bit confused as he retreats up the ramp with the other two.

Roman and Dean fist bump in the middle of the ring as a way to celebrate.

“That felt good,” Roman commented as they exit the ring and make their way to the back.

They’ll probably end up in catering knowing Roman but Dean follows anyway. 

Dean remembers how whenever the two of them were in catering the other wrestlers would give them sympathetic glances every so often and Dean had hated it. His phone goes off alerting him to Seth calling him.

“It’s Seth,” Dean said before accepting and moving to a more private part of the catering room.  

* * *

 

Dean’s woken up in the night by the sound of the bedroom door being shut and footsteps making their way closer to the bed. Dean’s still for a moment before he grabs the pillow and hits the intruder in the face with it.

“Ow!” the unmistakeable sound of Seth’s voice says.

Dean retrieved his pillow from the floor “Sorry,” he said “can never be too careful.”

“So your way of defending yourself is hitting an intruder with a pillow?” Seth asked sounding close to laughing.

Dean glared at Seth in the dark room “It worked didn’t it?” he asked “It stopped you for a couple of seconds, then I would’ve rugby tackled you to the floor.” He added.

Seth huffed out a hearty laugh again “Oh Dean,” he laughed “I love you.”

“What’s hilarious is _you_ were stopped by a pillow,” Dean pointed out and was definitely not going to let Seth forget that fact “but I love you too.” He added softer tone of voice. 

“Good,” Seth said and then huffs out another set of giggles “I still can’t believe you used a pillow.”

Dean grabs Seth by his arms and pulls him forwards so he falls onto the bed which effectively shutting him up “That’s what I thought,” he said “now if you don’t mind I was sleeping.” 

Dean lays back down and gets comfortable and for a second everything is quiet again and Dean shuts his eyes preparing to fall back to sleep when he feels the mattress start to wobble slightly and Seth’s laughing again “A pillow,” he laughed. Dean rolled his eyes before kicking Seth in the arm lightly.

“I want to _sleep_ ,” Dean whined.  


	22. boys are back in town

It’s very rare for Seth to find Dean so immersed into a TV series so it was a surprise when Seth closed their front door with a happy sigh escaping his lips at partly just being _home_ and partly because he’s going to see Dean properly for the first time in a few days. His schedule had been so busy that by the time he’d get into bed he was far too tired to talk to Dean. Seth dropped his suitcase at the bottom of the stairs and walked through to the living room expecting to find Dean reading or something but instead he found his boyfriend laying on the sofa with a steaming mug lying on his chest as his eyes were glued to the television screen. 

“…Hey Dean,” Seth said smiling at the sight of Dean.

“Shh,” Dean said immediately “they’re about to arrest the husband for murdering his wife. I _knew_ it was that sneaky son of a- _Seth_!”

He’d never seen Dean move so fast and luckily Dean remembered he had a hot drink resting on him because he moved it to the coffee table before he was throwing his arms around Seth’s neck and holding him close. 

Seth wrapped his arms around Dean as he grinned “I can’t believe that when I try to surprise you, you tell me to shush.” He said amused.

Dean released Seth from the hug “I had nothing better to do,” he said “then I watched the first episode and now I’m on series three after five days. I have a problem, I can’t stop watching.” He added.

Seth chuckled “You do have a problem,” 

* * *

 

Night of Champions is a whirlwind of events and Seth can pinpoint the exact moment he thinks ‘ _shit I fucked up_ ’ because he did fuck up bad, in fact he managed to royally screw himself over by adding to Kane’s injured ankle. He had been naïve to assume Kane would just… overlook something like that. Limping to get backstage Seth feels the overwhelming urge to escape the building and find the fresh night air. It’s like everything that could have gone wrong tonight did go wrong.

He lost to Cena. Fuck.

Roman and Dean had called in Chris Jericho to help with their tag match as Seth couldn’t possibly participate in _three_ matches. Jericho tapped out. Shit.

Demon Kane returned. Shit, fuck.

Seth finally got backstage and escaped the mixed reactions from the crowd when he saw Dean lingering at the other end of the hallway giving him a calculating look. Seth knew that look. Dean was able to read Seth so well when he was looking at Seth like that. Dean wore a frown as he looked at Seth.

He tilted his head to the side slightly as he locked eyes with Dean and offered a soft smile. Dean’s expression softened as he nodded his head in understanding.

\----

Seth was just about finished packing his things away and ready to find Dean when his locker room door opened and in walked Dean looking exhausted as he leaned against the doorframe “Let’s go home, order in and lay on the sofa watching a film.” He suggested.

“Sounds perfect,” Seth said “but I’m choosing the film.”

Dean looked like he was about to argue before he sighed defeated and shrugged his shoulders “Sure,” he said simply.

Seth smiled as he grabbed his bag and then followed Dean down the hallway towards the car park, walking side by side with their shoulders occasionally bumping one another.

“I thought you did good tonight,” Dean said “despite everything.”

“Thanks,” Seth said “I’m just looking forward to getting home and sleeping in my own bed for once.”

“It’ll be nice to have you there for a change,” Dean said. 

* * *

 

He’s not one hundred percent certain what it is exactly that keeps him up at half three in the morning, he’s overcome with a load of different emotions and his thoughts are stuck in his brain just spiralling around and around driving him to become restless. Seth slips into the garden, closing the backdoor softly behind him as to not wake Dean.

He knows he shouldn’t be doing this, Roman will kill him.

“What?” Roman asked sounding exactly like Seth had just woke him up.

Seth paced up and down the path in the garden “Hey Rome,” he said “we’re good right?” he asked.

There’s silence on the other end for a couple of moments before Roman sighs down the phone “Please tell me you didn’t wake me up at half three to check that we’re okay,” he said sounding partly exasperated and partly annoyed.

“Well that’s not the reason for me calling,” Seth said “but I just… I _feel_ like we’re okay now, like it used to be almost. Before I did what I did I could call you at any time and you’d be there for me no matter what the time.”

“Still am,” Roman grumbled quietly down the phone.

“I don’t know why I’ve suddenly freaked about this,” Seth admitted “I mean you said me and Dean have been together long before we made it official and it’s amazing being official. We live together now; we’re looking at getting pets. We’ve made ourselves a home and we love each other. I know there’s a part of Dean that still… he won’t _fully_ let his guard down and I accept that with him it takes time and-” he started to say when Roman interrupted him.

“Is this leading somewhere?” Roman asked before he sounded more alert “If you’re-” he started to say when Seth interrupted his thought process.

“Calm down Roman,” Seth said “I’m not… I couldn’t hurt Dean again without hurting myself in the process. What I mean is… Dean’s _it_ for me. He’s the one who I’m going to come home with after a rough day at work, whose going to tell me to shut up when he’s engrossed in TV and whose going to defend us against burglars with nothing but a pillow in the middle of the night. I… why am I so nervous about this?” he asked softly.

“Nervous about what?” Roman asked “Seth did your head hit the mat hard tonight, you’re not making any sense.”

Seth exhaled through his nose as he tipped his head back to look up at the dark night sky “Nervous about asking Dean to make a lifelong commitment with me,” he said.

“…proposing?” Roman asked.

“Yeah,” Seth said through a breath “what do you think?” he asked.

“I think that it’s about time already,” Roman said. 

* * *

 

Seth’s mildly surprised at how chirpy he feels after only having five and a half hours sleep last night but after he spoke mindlessly to Roman over the phone for an hour he’d finally managed to succumb to sleep.

Dean’s eyeing him suspiciously from the other side of the table as they eat their breakfast and drink their coffee, so incredibly domestic of them. Seth’s overactive imagination can just picture this exact scene in five years with added bits such as a wedding band on Dean’s finger, a dog sniffing around Seth’s feet for any crumbs and perhaps two children sat at the table nagging Seth and Dean about going to the park or laughing at Dean’s ridiculous faces or… or…

“You’re freaking me out,” Dean commented breaking Seth out of his little dream world he’d conjured up in his mind.

“What?” Seth asked.

“You’re staring at me with crazy eyes,” Dean pointed out with an amused smirk before he sipped his coffee.

Seth shook his head lightly “Sorry… was in a world of my own.” He said as he conjured up the picture of the table chairs being filled with their own perfect little family. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, sorry it's been awhile! I've been crazy busy what with going back to uni and having to change my work schedule. Hope to be on top of the updates again pretty soon! :)


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